Reviving Love
by Ryuu Moonlight
Summary: After Sombra is revived by a magic spell cast by the four princesses and his dear friend hope, he no longer has to worry about the evil that had resided in him. Sombra and Hope set out to find the scattered pieces of Princess Amore and put her back together. This mission turns out to be much harder than was anticipated. Along the way Hope and Sombra fall in love with each other.
1. Amore

**This story is listed as Sombra x OC because Radiant Hope is not listed as a character in the character choice. This story is Sombra x Radiant Hope.**

* * *

Days had passed since the princesses had saved sombra from the magic of the crystal heart for good. Sombra was back and alive and void of the evil that plagued his heart in the past. Hope was at his side and could never be happier. She had succeeded in saving her friend, a friend she had lost thhrough her own mistake; or so she blamed herself.

Sombra and hope had set out to find the scattered pieces of Princess Amore. Even when Sombra was evil, he couldn't find it in himself to kill her, so he turned her to stone and scattered the bits so small and far no one would ever find them. Going completely against all odds Sombra and Hope set out to do just that;find every piece of Princess Amore's stone body and piece it back together.

"Hope?" Sombra asked, getting his friends attention, "How are we supposed to find all the pieces of Pincess Amore?" Hope stopped walking; thinking carefully about his question. She shuffled through her thoughts for an idea that might help them. She came up with something.

"Is Amore's room in the crystal castle still intact?" Hope asked finally.

"Unless Princess Cadence and Shining Armour uncovered it, then it should be. I sealed the room away so that I wouldn't have to see it. I think I remember where it is." Everything went quieter and the mood of the conversation became sadder.

"Well then what are we standing aroung for? Let's go look!" Hope giggled, lightening the mood a bit. She took off trotting at a light pace towards the castle. Sombra took off after her. Hope saw him closing in and broke into a full gallop. Sombra ran faster trying to keep up with his friend, but she was getting too far ahead. Was she actually faster than him? He stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Hope was getting to far ahead and he couldn't keep up. Hope stopped hearing Sombra's heavy panting. She looked back to see where he was, but couldn't see him anywhere. ZAP! Sombra appeared right in front of her causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Sombra! Don't do that! You startled me!" Hope yelled at him, laughing a little.

Returning a hearty laugh, sombra replied innocently, "But you were too fast and I couldn't keep up!"

"Yeah okay," Hope replied rolling her eyes jokingly. SHe smiled up at her friend towering over her. He was so much taller than her. His lean, muscular legs were much longer than hers, how could someone this tall and physically fit have trouble keeping up with her? As she looked her friend in the eyes she began to blush lightly. Hope turned her head quickly back towards the castle, "Alright, Sombra, if I'm so much faster than you, how about a proper race to the castle?"

Sombra smiled, "Sounds good, but you know you'll beat me!" He said truthfully.

"Not if you are trying, especially not with those long muscular legs!" Hope blurted out. The words leaving her tongue with a different tone then she had expected. What was wrong with her? She couldn't speak right and she kept getting a strange feeling next to him.

Sombra looked down, taking a moment to really take in how much taller than Hope he was. She was right, with as tall as he was, he should have had no problem keeping up with her. "Alright, ready? Set? Go!" Sombra shouted as they both took off running as fast and hard as they could towards the castle. Sombra was keeping up much better this time. He looked to his side and Hope was still there. It began to be harder to stay side by side with her, but she didn't seem to show any struggle keeping up with him. Sombra began panting as he exerted every bit of energy he could to keep up with her.

Hope was galloping as fast as she could, pushing faster than she had ever galloped before. She had much more stamina than Sombra, but was not used to running as fast as she was. She began to pant heavily after a while too. The castle was just ahead and she was still neck and neck with Sombra. _I can't push any harder, if he can muscle through this, he will actually win!_ Hope's thoughts nagged, but hearing Sombra's panting made her realise maybe he hadn't been joking about having trouble keeping up with her. She began to slow down a little bit as her thoughts distracted her.

Sombra looked to his side again with a goofy grin hoping to see his friend still neck and neck with him. She had fallen back a bit. She had a somewhat glazed look on her face, as if she was lost in thought. Sombra slowed a bit to be beside her, "Are you feeling okay?" He asked as they came to a complete stop right underneath the archway of the crystal castle.

"Huh? Yeah sorry I got a bit distracted." Those simple words lifted a plague of worry off of Sombra's chest that he did not know was there until it passed.

The two ran upstairs to the main throne room. Sombra ran behind the throne; hope following close behind. There was a door, nearly impossible to see to the untrained edging of the door magically fused with its frame. Sombra began working to unseal the door, but undoing dark magic without using dark magic is no easy task. The frame of the door shuddered and spat black energy. Hope ducked as one of the dark magic lightning bolts shot straight over her head

"EEP!" Hope shouted.

"Hope! Are you okay?"Sombra pulled away from his task to check on her.

"I'm fine, keep trying the door! Is there someway I can help with the door?" Hope asked, knowing that if he could tell her the spell, she could cast it with light magic. Hope was not well trained it light magic, but healing and life magic were not so different from light magic. Love magic is almost indifferent, and a bit more powerful, but most love magic spells require two to be cast.

Hearing the commotion, Princess Cadence went into the throne room to investigate. She saw Hope and Sombra behind the throne repeatedly casting various spells at the wall. For a brief moment Cadence thought they were either loony or causing mischief, but then she saw the outline of a door form in dark magic and blast the two backwards. Cadence rushed to help them up.

"Are you two okay? What are you doing?" Cadence asked before firing a volley of questions, "Why are you two back? Why are you in my castle? Why are you messing with dark magic? Whats with the sealed door? Why don't you use your dark magic to open it?"

"This door used to lead to Princess Amore's room, I sealed it away when I was king. Hope and I were trying to find all of the pieces of Princess Amore's shattered form."

"What? Princess Amore is still alive?" Cadence asked in disbelief.

"Yes she is!" Hope replied excitedly.

"I couldn't bring myself to kill her, so I simply turned her to stone. I shattered the statue and scattered the pieces and..."

"And you want into her room for one of her possessions for a location spell?" Cadence finished Sombra's sentence. "Its far-fetched, but it should work... when you have enough of her essence localized. That is to say, if she is spread as thinly as you say, the spell would be unable to locate her. Any item you use will spin violently as it tries to go in every direction at once, until it tears itself to shreds."

"Oh well that idea is out the window. What are we supposed to do now Princess?" Hope asked disappointedly.

"I have an idea, but first lets get this door open." Cadence replied.

Cadence charge up a spell on her horn. Vibrant pink, violet, and sky blue light beaming in every direction. Love magic. It figures that the Princess of love could cast a low power love spell without a partner caster. Cadence shot the beam of magic at the center of the door. The light enveloped the door. A deep purple and black aura outlined the frame of the door. Hope joined in and cast a weak life magic spell at the door. The light green aura added to the pink, violet, and pale blue display that Cadence was making. The door began to be more visible. the dark aura around the door faded to nothingness. An audible click told them that the door was unlocked. An unexpected, but enjoyable consequence of unsealing the door. Cadence pushed the door opened and they went inside.


	2. Buttercream

**I am sorry about the extremely short first chapter, I will be trying to hit a minimum of 4,000 words per chapter from this point forward, and may even edit the previous chapter to be a bit more "fluffy". This chapter tells the first part of Princess Amore's story as I envisioned it. Buttercream is my character, Amore is not.  
**

 **There is a small er... big reference to Pokemon and Harry Potter near the end of the chapter. I will be disappointed if no one can figure it out.**

 _ **Itaclicized words are thoughts.**_

* * *

The group gazed into Princess Amore's room. Having never seen it before they were taken away by its... its well lack of tidiness. Yes. The room was messy, as if a teenager lived there. The floor was visible, but nonetheless it was a bit of a mess. To the right of the door was a bookshelf littered with more than just books; relics, artifacts, etc. The shelf's were a collection of magical items and books. To the left of the door was a large dresser. Everyone wondered what could possibly be kept in the dresser. Standing in the middle of the room was a very large bed. The bed had tall corner posts and a canopy made of a crystal embedded cloth. The room didn't have much more in it, just relics the princess had collected over the years of her reign. It took a moment but Sombra finally noticed the pedestal in the right corner of the room. Sitting on the pedestal was a large scroll. The pedestal was equipped to lock a scroll on so it could be freely and easily turned.

Sombra picked up the scroll and locked it into place. He began to unroll the scroll carefully, as it was very ancient and he did not want to damage it. he began to read it very first entry.

"Dear Diary,

"Today I lost my first tooth!"

This entry was short and sweet. The penmanship in the writing was flawless. Sombra figured this must have been written down by Amore's mother while Amore was still too young to write. As Sombra skipped ahead a few, he noticed a point where the beautiful penmanship stopped and was replaced by sloppier writing. Amore had finally been old enough to write on her own. Sombra kept skipping ahead in the journal until he found a particularly interesting entry.

"Today I had something interesting happened to me. Something I would have never imagined...

* * *

Amore and her friend Buttercream were running around in the castle courtyard playing. Amore had always had trouble making friends, but Buttercream was different from other ponies. Buttercream was nearly as introverted as Amore and was definitely more academically focused. They became friends through a study group where they had been paired for a project. As Amore and Buttercream played, they let their imaginations run free; creating vivid, fantasy worlds. Amore and Buttercream were always "battling" beast after beast in the castle courtyard. Once Amore even played a damsel in distress and Buttercream played the valiant knight.

Years passed and their friendship only grew, but so did their studies. Buttercream went into a vast study of magical plants and magical theory, while Amore began to study defensive magic and healing magic. Their studies drew them away from eachother, giving longer periods of time between each meeting, until they didn't see eachother for a year at a time. By the time Amore was an adult, she could not stop thinking of Buttercream whenever they were apart. Buttercream had the same problem. Their thoughts began to distract them from their work.

"Are you feeling okay, Amore?" Her mom asked worriedly, seeing Amore poking at her breakfast rather than eating it.

"Yeah, I just miss Buttercream. I liked when we were younger and less busy, how often we would hang out. Its been a long time since I had much time for my friends at all" Amore replied. _Yet I only really care to see Buttercream_ , her thoughts said.

"Well try to keep your hopes up a bit, this school semester is almost over and then you can go visit him whenever you'd like. You know he's not far, he's only on the other side of town." Her mom continued to encourage her. It worked, Amore lifted her head and gave a hopeful smile. Amore stopped picking at her food and began to eat, keeping that hopeful thought in mind.

"Buttercream! Hon are you listening at all?" Buttercream's mom shouted. She had been lecturing him again about his studies. She hadn't lectured him the first time, but when he wouldn't tell her what was wrong and she had spoken to him for the fifth time, she began to get frustrated. "You are making me worry, you have always had good grades and now you are on the brink of failing your class, for what? Why won't you tell me why you are having trouble? Was this course to intense to have just jumped into with out the class leading up to it?"

Buttercream was finally tired of his mom's lecture every week, and gave in.

"I miss Amore, I can't concentrate on anything, because I haven't seen my friend in over a year. She wanted to be my friend when everyone else bullied me, she was the only friend I ever had. But now I have so much studying that I don't have any down time except when I'm sleeping. I just want to relax and see my friend again!" Buttercream shouted. His stress was finally catching up with him physically and showing. His mother could see how exhausted he was.

"I- I see. I am so sorry, but if this was the problem all along, you should have said something and we could have worked it out for you to have more time. Now its too late and you might as well finish your semester and go visit her then." His mom finished.

"I know I should have said something, but I didn't see any use, I figured she'd be just as busy as I was." Buttercream replied defeatedly. He turned his face as a tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

The two continued their studies throughout the semester, using the hope of seeing one another as leverage to push through. Buttercream's grades went back up and Amore's magic ability strengthened. The last month before summer felt like the longest. Aprils were always bad in the Crystal Empire. The rain was almost nonstop during this month. The rain was never warm either. Being so far north, the only thing that kept the rain from becoming snow was heat that had already set in in March. This boring rain made the month of studies seem to drag on even longer. Amore and Buttercream held tightly to their hope of seeing eachother.

Finally the month drew to an end. All that was left was the first week of May. Finals. These tests would determine if they passed their classes. Buttercream had a test upcoming on the study of how unicorns can channel magic while other species of pony can not. Amore's test was going to be a bit more involved. She had to hold her own using defensive spells against an attacker (the teacher).

Buttercream began writing the ten page essay for the test. He had five hours to complete his essay.

Amore stood in front of her instructor. They lowered their heads and readied to fight, pointing their horns at eachother. The instructor fired a volley of spells of various types. Amore dodged some, blocked some, and countered the rest. Another wave was sent after her, she expertly dodged through the spells and cast her own. She was using mostly light magic. Her instructor caught onto this and used equally powerful dark magic to counter her light. Seeing how well she had been doing up to this point, Amore had gotten a little sloppy thinking everything was just easy. One of her instructor's spells hit her. She dropped to the ground like a bag of rocks. Amore struggled to her feet, blocking the spells that kept coming in. Wave after wave of spells of all different kinds of magic. She was getting exhausted.

Buttercream finished his essay with thirty minutes to spare. He quickly glanced over his paper checking for spelling and grammer errors. He knew they wouldn't effect his grade much, but he wanted to keep his grade as high as possible. Fifteen minutes left on the clock. He took his essay over to his professor quietly. He rolled up his scroll and set it on his professor's desk. Buttercream quietly walked out of the classroom so as not to disturb the other students. As soon as the door was shut, Buttercream took off running. He ran as fast as he could home. Buttercream opened the door and lugged his bag onto the couch. Before his mom could say anything he ran back out the door, swinging it shut as he ran. Buttercream was running to the East Crystal Empire University from the west side of the empire.

He knew Amore's exams were the same day as his. He wasn't sure if she would still be testing or not, but he wanted to be there when she finished at least. He kept running as fast as he could. _I have to get there before she's finished._ He kept thinking to himself. Buttercream weaved in and out of people, around corners, and between houses. He was maybe another ten minutes away if he kept up his pace.

Amore countered another spell and sent a few of her own, but she kept getting hit with dark magic. _Why is it that no other type of spell makes it through my guard? Why does it have to be dark magic?_ Amore thought, getting frustrated with herself. She shook her thoughts and brought her attention back to the instructor just in time to see a purple beam headed straight towards her. Amore panicked and accidentally teleported five feet to the left, almost landing on top of the student that was standing there. She responded to the instructor's volley of magic with an energy wave expanding out from herself. The wave created a bubble of sorts as it expanded ever outward. It hit the instructor making him stumble backwards a bit. She hit him finally.

Buttercream was slowing his pace a bit, but he knew he would still make it in five minutes if he didn't stop galloping. He was coming to an intersection and looked left and right briefly to make sure no one was coming. When he looked forward again he saw a huge wave of distortion headed straight towards him. It blew passed him ruffling his mane. Compressed air, not a distortion wave. Someone had made a shockwave. He traced the direction of the shockwave to its source. The ECE University stadium. Buttercream stopped inside the stadium to catch his breath. He stepped inside the main area of the stadium where students were gathered. He pushed his way to the front.

Amore tried to control her accidental teleportations, but they kept happening as she got more tired. A thought came into her mind. _Buttercream. I wish you were here._ She felt another wave of hope. She pressed on. More students from around the school began to gather in the stadium.

"This is the longest any student has lasted in this exam. They usually pass out in the first hour, but its been five hours and she's still determined to fight on!"

Similar whispers began making there way to where Buttercream was standing. He heard what was said and was amazed. _Does she really have that much fighting spirit?_ Buttercream stood there admiring his friend. Friend, is that what she was to him? He could feel something else. Every time he looked at her his stomach fluttered. Every time he thought of her he blushed. Every time he was with her he felt whole. He wondered if Amore shared these feelings, but he still wondered what feeling he had for Amore.

Amore caught glimpse of Buttercream at the front of the crowd. Time seemed to slow around her as she stared at Buttercream. She was snapped back to reality by a rather weak spell that hit her in the face. Her face stung from the spell. She turned towards her instructor. She felt something new in her. A passion. Her stomach fluttered her heart ached. She knew exactly what she was feeling. Love. She looked back at Buttercream and focused on the feeling looking at him gave her. Her horn glowed a magnificent pink and violet light as she blasted a beam of Love magic straight at her instructor. The instructor put up a shield and sent out several counterspells, all of which were pushed through with ease by the spell. The spell hit the instructor in the chest and knocked him off his feet. The crowd cheered in amazement at the turn of events.

"That was love magic! That's not even possible to do without a partner spellcaster!" Some girl in the audience shouted for all to hear.

"Well done, Amore. You my dear are a very talented unicorn with extraordinary ability." said the instructor. Buttercream ran up to Amore and hugged her.

"You are absolutely brilliant!" Buttercream said in amazement.

* * *

Two days later.

Amore and Buttercream met up for lunch time. Amore knew she loved him, but was hesitant to tell him; almost the opposite, Buttercream wasn't sure what he was feeling, but would have told her in a heartbeat if he knew. Buttercream grabbed lunch and Amore grabbed a table. They spent hours recounting everything that had happened in the past year and a half. Amore had become one of the best at magic in the entire university, while Buttercream had done ground breaking research on the theory of magic that no one had ever looked into. Buttercream had used his research to explain why some non-unicorn ponies could still use magic. Amore had become one of the best defensive art fighters in the entire empire. They took turns giving full detail recounts of their life in college.

Over the next few weeks Amore and Buttercream met up almost every other day, never tiring of each other's presence. Sometimes they weren't even talking to each other while they ate, they would just sit there happy to be with each other. Nearly a month had passed and Buttercream was still unsure why he felt the way he did around Amore and Amore was still hesitant to reveal her feelings. It was a complicated situation to be in, but not an uncomfortable one. While not discomforting at the time, where Amore and Buttercream stayed with their relationship would get uncomfortable really quickly if neither of them ever said their true feelings. That night, a month and a half from finals, Buttercream laid wide awake on the hotel bed. He was feeling all of the same things as before towards Amore, only more intensely.

"Why do I feeling like this around her? It's not even only around her anymore, its constantly. Every time I look at her or think of her I feel flushed over. A- Am I in love with her?" Buttercream talked to himself as he laid in bed. The word "love" rolled off his tongue as he said it. It felt good. It felt right. He realised it was true. He did love her. He had loved her for a long time. How could he have been so stupid to miss this little fact? He said it aloud, "I love her"

Amore also had trouble sleeping that night. She was kicking herself. She loved him, but still couldn't say it or reveal her feelings to him. Why? Why was it so hard? What was she affraid of, _It's not like him knowing will ruin our friendship, so why can't I say it?_ As she laid there she spoke out what she felt, "I love you, Buttercream"

The next day Buttercream met Amore at the local cafe again.

"Hey, Amore?" Buttercream started, somewhat shaky with worry.

"Yes?" Amore asked worriedly at his tone.

"There is something I have wanted to say. I hadn't really known what it was that I wanted to say until last night. My realisation hit me like a sack of bricks." He said pausing for a bit afterwards.

"Okay. Whatever it is you can tell me." Amore said. She wasn't sure where he was going with it, but she had an idea. She realised what he was about to say would affect. Her heart stood in the balance. It sat right in the center whatever he said would either tip the balance and break her heart or it would steady the balance and fulfill her.

"I- I love you" He stuttered. His face turned bright red and sweat rolled down his cheek. Buttercream was so overridden with anxiety that he was having trouble keeping his composure. A thousand conflicting thoughts argued in his head. He worried whether or not Amore returned his feelings.

Amore was completely taken by surprise. Those words shouldn't have been shocking, but they were. She had seen this coming, perhaps a bit too last minute, but she realised what he was getting at before he said it, yet she felt as much surprise as she would have had she been ignorant to what he was trying to say. She froze, now was the time to say that she loved him, but the words sank like lead to the bottom of her stomach and she made no noise as she opened her mouth to speak. She mustered all her strength realising she was keeping him waiting, "I love you too" She managed using her entire breath to force the stubborn words out. She had finally said it. Her heart was racing adrenaline pumped through her body, but didn't give her energy. She leaned towards Buttercream to kiss him, but ducked sideways and hugged him tight. She was not ready to kiss him, she loved him, but that had only just gotten to that first step.

Buttercream saw her leaning in on him and readied himself. Inside he was panicking. He felt some amount of relief when she ducked sideways to hug him instead, but also a bit of disappointment.

* * *

A month passed and a month was left before the fall semester started. What should have been a warm summer day, was slightly chilly. It was not an unpleasant coolness, but it was not as hot as it should have been either. Amore noticed the sky was cloudy. There was something off-putting and eerie about these clouds. Amore ignored the feeling. She focused on seeing Buttercream.

They were meeting at the cafe again to exchange inspiration in their areas of creativity. Amore liked to draw and write, while Buttercream like to paint and craft. Those clouds made it hard to see Buttercream's painting as well as Amore had liked. Everything was dim. Amore glanced at the clouds again. A chill skittered down her spine making her tremble. Buttercream noticed her unpleasant shiver. He glanced upward at to see what she was seeing, but the sky looked fine to him. Aside from some low hanging storm clouds, there was nothing wrong with the sky.

Amore stared into the sky. It looked like it was sucking away the joy. "Let's go inside." She proposed.

"Alright, if you want" Buttercream responded. He could see that the sky was bothering her, but he couldn't tell why. He glanced upwards again. It was cloudy, and that was disappointing; but it wasn't _disturbing_ like she seemed to think it was. As Buttercream turned back to head inside after Amore he got a sudden chill creeping up his spine. He shivered harshly. It was definitely getting cold.

 _Fine. Go inside. I will just wait here_ _. I can wait forever._

After a few hours had passed and Amore and Buttercream had been asked to leave, the two began to head home. As they walked, the clouds began to darken a bit. It may have been the sky getting dark, or it may have been the storm coming, but either way it was very unnerving for Amore. She huddled close to Buttercream as they walked home. His body felt warm against hers; he made her feel secure in the storm. Thunder cracked ad lightning flickered. Amore yelped. Buttercream threw his arm around her and hugged her tight.

"Hey, its just some rain and thunder. You have never been affraid of thunder why start now?"

"Those clouds have been bothering me all day. There is something dark and ominous about them." Amore responded, blushing in shame.

"Don't be scared. I would never let anything hurt you; and we both know that you are the fighter." Buttercream laughed lightly.

"I know, but don't you ever look at something and just feel what its really hiding? Like pushing a beautiful veil away to discover something ugly?"

"Yes, but those above us are just clouds." Buttercream responded soothing his love.

"You are something else, Buttercream. You are so brave in ways I am not." She leaned her head on his shoulder.

Buttercream was enjoying the moment. It didn't seem to phase either of them how harshly the rain was pouring down around them. They were soaked and getting cold, but they kept each other warm. Buttercream and Amore held each other tightly. As they stood there, Buttercream's fur suddenly began to stand on end. Buttercream could feel his fur pulling. A prickly chill crawled up his spine. Realising what was about to happen, Buttercream suddenly thrust Amore away. As she flew backwards though the air, Buttercream was struck by a powerful lightning bolt. He crumpled to the ground. All of the electricity had traveled straight through his heart on its travel to the ground and dispersed before Amore landed. A small amount of the electricity skipped up into Amore before she hit the ground, knocking her unconscious. Her body spasmed lightly, and uncontrollably.

Hours later Amore woke up. Her body was sore and achy. She still had trouble moving properly after being electrocuted. She clumsily worked her way over to Buttercream. He was laying motionless on the ground his face was burned across one eye and his hooves were burned as well. She went to his side and grabbed him up. She held him tightly in her arms. Amore placed her hoof over his heart. It was silent. It was motionless. Tears well in her eyes. She placed her hoof to his neck feeling for a pulse. Still, there was nothing. _He can't be dead!_ Amore thought angrily. Her faced showed very little of what she was feeling except for shock.

A hole was forming in her chest, or so it felt. Guilt, love, anger, sadness, heartbreak, anxiety, shock, horror; Amore felt all of this at once. Each emotion fought against each other in a violent war in her heart. Buttercream was dead. _Why hadn't I done something. I knew those clouds were evil. I could feel it yet I did nothing._

"Buttercream!" Amore said weakly. Tears bursting forth and streaming down her face.

"BUTTERCREAM!" She screamed out in angst; her heart torn in two. He was dead. Amore wailed out in agony as she laid there holding Buttercream's limp form. She loved him with every piece of her existence. She had taken so long to tell him, and now that they were together and happy, he was taken from her. Pain welled inside of her, pressing on her throat. Her tears stopped, but she kept crying. She sky was beginning to lighten as the night came to an end. While morning was only just coming, there was no one left asleep to be woken by the light. They had all woken at Amore's cries of agony.

"I love you" She choked as a single tear fell from her eye. The tear seemed like it was falling for an eternity. People began gathering as they noticed somepony had died. Everyone was distraught and heartbroken for the mare, but no one was daring enough to say something to her. The tear splashed onto Buttercream's forehead. The crowd around her began to tear up and cry as well. They had seen the two around town since they were children and knew them pretty well. Ponies in the crowd began to light their horns. Amore looked up momentarily. Time felt slow around her, she could see every detail. She could see the tears falling like rain from the clouds that were the heads in the crowd. As more and more ponies began lighting their horns if they had one, the light they created became more brilliant. Amore could see every tear shining like a crystal. Amore pointed her horn straight up and shined her horn as well. A beautiful bright pink light shone from her horn. She had no more tears to cry, or so she thought. A final tear shining golden in from the light fell onto Buttercream. In that moment, Amore could feel his body warm up. She stopped lighting her horn and turned to face his body. Buttercream's chest expanded lightly as he breathed in. He couldn't take very much air in at first. He felt like he was suffocating almost. Amore adjusted his head as she began to feel his heart beating again. Buttercream gasped out for air taking in a huge breath and opening his eyes. Amore looked absolutely bewildered. It shouldn't have been possible, but there was Buttercream, lying in her arms having just woken from being dead.

* * *

 **It will be a little while before I post the next chapter. I knew somewhat what I wanted to do with the workings of magic, but I didn't expect it to go so deeply into metaphysics, so I need to do a bit of studying on the topic. On top of that I just scored a 75 on a math test.**

 **Math is one of my best subjects and I bombed this test so I need to brief on what I sucked at so I can do better on the next test. so my three tests so far score 80, 100, and 75 that averages to 85. If my next three tests can stay at least 90 then the 75 will be dropped and the other five scores averaged to 90. I have some high hopes, but its not for nothing. This math class will decide whether or not I should continue down an engineering course. So its pretty important.  
**

 **So my writing will slow a little bit with all the studying I have to do, but honestly the only reason I have been able to post so frequently is the fact that I just made an account and have had ideas for a while now.**


	3. The Princess of Love

**I hope it was at least somewhat obvious in the last chapter that the flashback is a conglomeration of journal entries, not just one single entry, as it does span several years. This chapter will continue where last chapter left off before returning to Sombra and Hope. I plan to delve into Love Magic a bit in this chapter. I hope you all caught the Pokemon/Harry Potter reference in the previous chapter!**

 **I am not sure how much darker the story will get, but I think I will be leaving it T. It will be dark and even triggering. So T for scariness, death, and sadness?**

 _ **Italics are** **thoughts.**_

 **I have my own definition and theory of magic that I use for my story. Here are the different levels of Magic users in my story:  
**

 **Magia (pl. Magi) - Non-Unicorns who use voodoo or brewing to cast magic. This form of magic utilizes the magic in the surroundings, not in the caster.**

 **Mage (pl. Mages) - Non-Unicorns who are gifted in magic. This form of magic utilizes the magic of the caster.**

 **Witch - Female unicorns skilled in magic.**

 **Wizard - Male unicorns skilled in magic.**

 **I will explain what this magic is in the chapter.**

 **Also there are a lot of time skips simply because the other details in her journal aren't as important to the plot, so I merely skipped making them up.**

* * *

Several days had passed since Amore had revived Buttercream with love magic. Amore and Buttercream met up every day, spending nearly their whole day together. As the summer drew to an end, Buttercream began packing what little belongings he had brought with to head back home to the western side of the empire. Buttercream was unsure of how to recount his summer to his mom. For one thing it was hard to explain that he died and was brought back to life by tears, another to hear it. He doubted his mom would believe his tale, not that he cared, it had happened and he would never forget it. He could not explain it, but Amore had loved him so deeply it had revived him. How did any of this work?

The final day arrived. Buttercream was leaving that morning. Amore and Buttercream spent the whole morning together before it was time to go. While Buttercream had run the whole way across the city, he was taking a taxi service back home; it was a long trip after all. Buttercream had slept for several hours longer than normal after having run across the empire.

Buttercream was mere minutes away from leaving.

"I love you, Buttercream!" Amore cried out, hanging around his neck in a tight hug.

"I love you too, I will be back when I have break from my studies." Buttercream replied, returning her hug. The couple gazed into eachother's eyes. Buttercream admired her vibrant raspberry eyes and luscious pink-purple mane. Amore stared just as deeply into Buttercream's soft gold eyes and shiny blonde mane. Amore leaned towards Buttercream, closing her eyes as she inched closer to him. Buttercream was filled with a twinge of panic. _Is she going to kiss me this time? I've never kissed a mare before, I hope I don't suck at it._ Buttercream ignored his thoughts and leaned to meet Amore's soft lips waiting for him. He closed his eyes as their lips met. The two shared a modest, but passionate kiss. Amore's first kiss and Buttercream's first kiss. Their hearts raced, pounding like drums. Several seconds went by; the only thing that interrupted their kiss, was the taxi that had arrived.

The two said their goodbyes with tears in their eyes; knowing their first kiss would be their last for several months.

* * *

Amore returned home to her mother. When she went inside, she saw her mom's distressed look.

"Is everything okay mom?" Amore asked worriedly.

"Your Grandmother has just passed away." Her mom said shakily.

"Grandma Ardor? Or Grandma Impes?" Amore asked, a pressure pounding on her throat.

"Pri- Grandma Ardor." Amore's mother responded. This was big news. Grandma Ardor, known as Princess Ardor to others was the monarch of the crystal empire. Even with that fact at hand, Amore didn't really get the benefits an heir would normally, infact she got no benefits. Grandma Ardor hadn't wanted that life for any of them.

"You are the only eligible heir." Amore's mom continued, "You are the only one of her children and grand-children who is gifted enough in magic to perform the different ceremonies."

"I can't be the only one! What about Aunt Christa?" Amore protested.

"Don't you remember when she nearly set her neighbourhood on fire with a simple teleportation spell?"

"Oh, well yeah, I do..."

"I'm sorry if you don't like it, but you are the _only_ heir."

"Don't you have to be an alicorn to be a princess?" Amore continued to protest.

"Amore, please!" Her mother snapped, "It is important that the empire has a ruler is it not?"

"Yes, but I am not ready to be a monarch. What would be my domain, my specialty? What would I rule as the princess of? And what about Buttercream? I've finally fallen in love with someone, and now I'm going to become some princess?"

"I understand your reservations, but there is no other choice. You are the only one of your relatives as capable of magic as is necessary."

Amore had no further argument. She knew her mother was right. Amore had been exceptionally gifted in magic from early childhood. She even caught the eyes of the Two Sisters. Amore had studied as their pupil for a year, but soon returned to the Crystal Empire when it became clear that she preferred defensive arts to magical studies. Amore had found those studies very boring. Whether she realised it or not, her year of studies payed off. It improved her skills. Without knowing it, Amore was possibly one of the most powerful witches in the Crystal Empire.

"Amore, why would Buttercream stop you? Why would he not be there for you?" Amore's mom asked, misunderstanding Amore's worry.

"Don't princesses either become immortal or have extended lifespans? That's what I worry about."

"You could make him immortal or expand his lifespan with you." Her mother responded.

"No I don't want him to outlive everyone else he loves. I could never ask him to do that for me."

"Why don't you talk to him about this either way. He will understand whatever decision you make." Amore's mom consoled.

Amore was torn inside. She understood the responsibility and the need, but she loved Buttercream. Even as much as she loved Buttercream, she could never ask him to outlive his family and friends. ...But she love him; Amore loved him so dearly she ached to be with him again and he had hardly been gone for a day. She would have to talk to Buttercream about this mess whether she liked it or not.

"How long do I have to make my decision?" Amore asked in defeat.

"A month." Her mom replied.

* * *

The next day word of the incidents had made their way to the Two Sisters. Princess Celestia rushed to the Crystal Empire to visit her old pupil. Celestia was sad for the loss of her friend Ardor. She was also worried for Amore, knowing she would be the one chosen, but more than anything Celestia wanted to talk to Amore about having magically revived Buttercream. This was a magic that should not be tampered with. Celestia feared their may have been Dark Magic involved in the revival. Celestia was completely unaware that no spell had been cast in the revival.

Celestia arrived in the Crystal Empire and went straight to Amore's.

"Princess! Amore gasped with delight, but also a twinge of worry. _Why could she be here?_

"Good afternoon, Amore. I wanted to talk to you about the series of events you have been wrapped up in in this past week." Princess Celestia said solemnly.

"I- ah- okay." Amore stuttered, she was very worried now. what was so important about those events that required the Princess of all of Equestria to question her about it?

"Let's go somewhere private to talk." Celestia suggested.

"We can go up into my room." Amore replied, leading the Princess upstairs. Once the two were upstairs, Celestia began asking Amore what she had been thinking about.

"I wanted to talk to you about the loss of your grandmother and the responsibilities that were untimely thrust onto you; but mostly I wanted to speak with you about the unusual turn of events that occurred several days ago."

 _She's referring to my reviving Buttercream. What can I say about it? I don't even know how it happened._

"What are you wanting to know?" Amore asked cautiously.

"Do you realise what kind of Dark Magic is required to completely raise someone from the dead? And even then, the revived person is not completely themselves. They are empty and callous after a Dark Magic revival" Celestia asked bluntly.

"Wha- What do you mean? I didn't use dark magic!" Amore responded defensively.

"Is that so? Then there is only one other possibility, but there is no known spell for this magic. There is no known unicorn, or alicorn for that matter, who can use this magic well enough for what you did. There is no one alive capable of the magic you seem to have used. This magic is powerful and can be harmful if used incorrectly. This magic is nearly unstoppable by any force. This magic is vastly more powerful than even Dark Magic. Do you know what this magic is? Or why it would be cause for concern?" Celestia asked.

"No I- I don't know." Amore responded fearfully.

"Love. Love Magic. The only form of magic that does not have a counter balance. Love is the only form of magic that does not need a spell to be used, but, as I said, there is no one alive capable of using this magic nearly as powerfully as you did. As I understand, you didn't even have it in your mind to use magic. Am I right?"

"Y-yes. The only thing I could think of is how important he was to me, how we had finally been together in peace and love, how much pain I felt, even how much I wanted him back for myself so that I wouldn't be alone." Amore stated, blushing realising that her last statement sounded greedy.

"You love him dearly then? You love him unconditionally and without the slightest doubt in your mind of it?" Celestia questioned again.

"Y-yes. Where are you going with this, Princess?"

"You remember how I said use of this magic is cause for worry?"

"Yes"

"This magic can be sourced from a wide variety of Love-related emotions. Love, sadness, remorse, fear, worry, anxiety, lust, anger, etc. The list could go on an on. I am assuming you were feeling love, sadness, anger, and _greed_. You had already shown an adeptness towards love magic at the beginning of the summer during your exam. Didn't you cast a powerful love magic spell without having a partner caster you were in love with?"

"Actually not necessarily. I noticed the surge in power. That was what made me realise I was in love with Buttercream. I saw him in the audience. It filled me with energy. I wasn't _trying_ to use love magic, it just happened. I was trying to use light magic."

"I see. I should explain what might have happened here. There are two different Castes of magic. There is White Magic and there is Black Magic. There are three aspects to magic as well. There is Elemental Magic, which pertains to the physical surroundings; there is Emotional Magic, which takes the form of an energy; and there is Spiritual Magic, which pertains to the spiritual aspects of this world. Spiritual magic is completely metaphysical, being such it is very hard to study. Love Magic is the only kind of magic that cannot be categorized. Normally it is grouped with Emotional magic, but it is not always emotional.

"There are six types of magic that stem from the two castes and three aspects. White Spiritual Magic is called Light magic, Black Spiritual Magic is called Dark Magic, White Elemental Magic is called Source Magic, Black Elemental Magic is called Destruction Magic, White Emotional Magic is called Chara Magic (pronounced Kahra), and Black Emotional Magic is called Lypi Magic (pronounced Lie-pee). As I said Love Magic cannot be categorized. Love is accompanied by Both good and bad emotions, Love both creates and destroys, and Love can make someone evil or it can make them good. Love has bits of every category, but cannot solely belong to any category. Being Magically adept in this form of magic is reason for worry because it means you are adept in _all_ fields of magic. It means your _soul_ is balanced. You are neither pure good nor pure bad. I am not saying you are a bad person, clearly you choose to do what is good over what is bad, but do realise that this darkness is as much a part of your soul as the light is."

What Celestia was saying worried Amore. She knew she wasn't evil or even morally capable of acting malevolently. She _was_ just. Amore tended to hand out what was given to her. She had been in fights in school, defending herself against every pony who thought they could tangle with her. She could see that in herself now more than ever. The idea that she was gifted in love was almost absurd to her even after the entire explanation. Amore had nothing to say in response to what Celestia had said. She was dumbfounded.

"All of this brings me to my other reason for visiting you today. Showing such adeptness in a magic of such power is more than enough proof that you are capable of being a princess, also your justness and moral show you are capable of being a leader. Your mother likely told you that you have a month to make a decision. I surely hope that you make not only a decision that is right for you but that is right for the people of the Crystal Empire. If you choose to become the Princess of this city, you can choose to remain mortal, but you will not become and Alicorn. That is the path your grandmother chose." Celestia finished before walking out of the room.

Amore considered her words carefully. Not being immortal was an option? And her grandmother had made the same decision? This opened a new realm of possibilities for her and Buttercream. Ones she still perhaps did not want, but that were at least less extreme. Amore would just have to wait one more week before talking to Buttercream about it.

* * *

Buttercream had break in two days and then he was going to go visit Amore. His mother thought he was insane. 'How could it have been possible for you to have died? You are standing right here before me!' she had argued. She didn't want to believe that there could be anyone who could possess such powerful magic, no matter who it was. His mother wasn't always like this. She had just gone through a lot in her life. She put trust in the wrong people a couple times, and after being fed lies she became more reluctant to believe, more disbelieving. She became the type of person who only believes what her eyes can see. It is an terrible road to travel down, but unfortunately society can act as a catalyst quickening this effect.

One day left. Buttercream began packing his necessities. There wasn't much to pack since ponies only wore clothing for extremely formal events, such as the Gala. The Gala, now that was a thought Buttercream had neglected. Oh how he wanted to take Amore to something as formal as that, but he could never afford it. Perhaps one day if he just saved enough and for long enough. The final day before his departure to visit Amore drew to an end quickly, as anticipation sped it along; a rare occurance.

Buttercream woke up and grabbed his bag. He immediately began out the door before being stopped by his mom for breakfast. He turned back towards the table to eat. Breakfast. The most important meal of the day. And to think he had almost spoiled his day by not eating.

"I love your enthusiasm for and devotion to this girl, but please be patient and make sure you get done what you need to get done before leaving."

"Yes Mom." Buttercream replied reluctantly, setting his bag down. Later that afternoon Buttercream finally made his departure for the eastern side of the city. He could not wait to see Amore. Only a week had passed since he had left, but he missed seeing her every day as he had over the summer.

"I will visit you every weekend, Amore." He spoke quietly by himself, his words directed to Amore. He made a silent promise as he made his way to her.

* * *

Amore tried to look happy for Buttercream's arrival, but she was nervous. She had something incredibly important to talk to him about that would possibly take away from the weekend she had with him. She waited by her window. She kept herself busy, but periodically looked up out the window to see if he had arrived. It wasn't long before he was there. Buttercream went to knock on Amore's door, but was met with a hug. The door had flown open before he could knock and Amore had jumped out to hug him.

"How was your week, Buttercream?"

"It was good, felt a bit long with all the homework I had to do every day; but I suppose that's college for you. How was your week?"

"Oh its a long story, and you are going to want to hear it..." Amore recounted every thing that had happened in the last week. Beginning with her grandmother, then telling about Princess Celestia's visit. All the while the feeling of worry and the doubt pounding in her mind. Buttercream could see the worry on her face and tried to console her as she spoke.

"All of this happened in the last week?" Buttercream asked in shock. He hugged her tight trying to calm her down. Amore was on the verge of tears. She wasn't crying from sadness, but from fear. She was not ready for any of what was ahead, yet she only had a month to make a decision.

"Amore, I know you are scared. I would be too, but you will be fine. There is nothing that could ever stop you from being the best princess this small empire has ever seen!" Buttercream said soothingly, trying to lighten her mood.

"Thanks. I am not worried about being a terrible ruler or about being incapable. I am worried about you; about us. I love you, but I could never ask you to become immortal with me and leave behind everyone you love. You would never grow old, but you would watch everyone around you grow old and die. My other issue is if I become princess I will become immortal and I would watch you grow old and die, and then i wouldn't have you with me anymore. My last option would be choosing to stay mortal and having to choose an heir. None of those things I want."

"Amore, you know I hardly have anyone special to me other than my mother and you, and living a mortal life I would still watch her grow old and die. It's a morbid thought, but its true. I would become immortal to be by your side in an instant."

"I know but I don't want that for either of us."

"Then don't make a decision on immortality yet. Take the throne mortally. You can always finalize your decision another time." Buttercream suggested. Amore was glad she had decided to speak with him about it.

Amore tried to put her week to the back of her mind and just enjoy her weekend with Buttercream, but it kept nagging. She had her answer, yet it still bothered her.

Sunday afternoon Buttercream readied his things to leave. He was going to try to come back the next weekend, but it wasn't a guaranteed possibility. Amore knew this. She tried to be okay with it, but she want him there when she made her final decision on taking the throne as Princess of the Crystal Empire. That was a terrifying thought to her. Buttercream was ready to leave. His taxi was on its way. Amore embraced him; giving him a kiss before he left.

"Bye! I love you!" She called out as he got into the Taxi Carriage.

"Bye! I love you too!" He called back as the taxi puller began trotting off.

* * *

Two weeks later Celestia was at the Crystal Empire to hear Amore's final decision. With Buttercream by her side, she had requested the Princesses presence to give her decision. Celestia was there to coronate Amore and ensure that she could perform the spells necessary for formal ceremonies.

"Princess Celestia. I have decided to take my Grandmother's place as Princess of the Crystal Empire, but I request to leave my decision to become an immortal alicorn undecided for the time being, Buttercream and I are still working through the details on that." Amore said.

"I understand. Are you ready for your coronation then?" Princess Celstia asked.

"Yes." Amore said, as she felt a welling in her throat. _This is actually happening!_ Amore felt somewhat panicky.

"After you coronation you will have seven years to make your decision on whether you will become and Alicorn Princess or not." Celestia continued.

"Yes ma'am. Thank you. I will have a decision by then."

After Celestia had finished briefing Amore on the terms, the coronation began. It was a simple and sweet ceremony. Amore was presented with a modest crown. The crown was jeweled but not overly flashy. It was rather fitting with her personality. Amore stood proudly before her people, feeling good about her decision for the first time. She could do it. She would be a great and just leader. Amore readied herself and knelt.

"I crown you Princess Amore, the Princess of Love." Celestia spoke out as they rested the crown on Amore's head. Amore Stood and bowed to Princess Celestia, the entire crowd followed suit. This was the first of a strange series of events that Amore was going to go through.

* * *

A year passed.

Buttercream had finished his college course and now had a degree in the study of magic and magic theory. He had moved out of his mother's house and moved closer to where Amore now lived in the center of the city.

Amore had completed her training in defensive magic and had moved on to her necessary studies as a Princess. Naturally Celestia was leading these studies, being one of the only other ponies capable of the spells necessary for ceremonies. Amore trained rigorously to be able to cast the spells easily and quickly. Amore picked up fairly quickly on everything, so despite the sheer amount of magic to train in, it only took her about eight months.

Buttercream had spent the entire last year working a job and secretly setting aside bits. He was going to buy Amore a ring, but didn't want her to know about it. He has finally saved up enough bits for it and a gold necklace. He went to a local jeweler, being as discrete as possible. He purchased a small gold horn ring with a diamond set in the middle, nearly flush with the surface of the ring only sticking out a little bit to reveal the chiseled contour of the gemstone. He had the ring put onto a smooth gold chain made with incredibly small links, making for a sturdy but still loose necklace. He took the gift and put it in a small protective box and hid it amongst his other things before going to go visit Amore. As he thought about the gift his stomach fluttered and felt a little nauseous. He took a deep shaky breath trying to calm his nerves a bit. He was going to surprise her with her gift for her one year anniversary as the Princess of Love.

Amore and Buttercream met up at the Cafe where they had their first date. Amore knew something was up since Buttercream was acting so weird. He had taken her on a long walk through the park where they had had more than a few dates, and now here they were at the location of their first date. _Why was he acting so nostalgic?_ Amore thought to herself.

"Amore?" Buttercream began shakily. He took a deep breath and steadied himself. "Since we were little you have been my closest friend. You were the only person willing to be friends with me when everyone around me thought I was too weird or unlikable. You stood by me through thick and thin and I tried to do much the same for you. I think all that time I loved you without knowing it, for if at any moment you had been gone from my life i wouldn't have been able to handle it. You are still my closest friend and the only mare I will ever love. Will you marry me?" He asked as he knelt down presenting her with the ring he had purchased earlier that day.

Amore's heart lept into her throat. How had she not foreseen this? She stood there in shock. Amore teared up her words evaded her. She wanted nothing more than to say yes but she choked on her words as she began to cry. She cleared her throat to speak.

"Yes! Yes I will! I love you!" She gasped wiping the tears from her face.

"I love you too." Buttercream said as he brought Amore close to himself and kissed her. He felt complete in that moment. He would spend the rest of his life with the mare he loved more than anypony else. She felt the same. Amore could feel her heart racing in her chest. Without any intention to, she lit her horn and shone out a dazzlingly bright light. When she realized what she was doing she pulled away from him and stopped the light. The two just stared into eachother's eyes happily for a moment. She brought him back close for a hug, but she did not release the hug for a long while, as she was content there in his hooves. She didn't want this feeling to ever end.

* * *

Five years and five months passed and the Crystal Faire was going to be starting soon. Amore had consoled a young colt several years in a row on this day. The colt was unable to be near the magic of the Crystal Heart, as it made him very ill. This colt was very peculiar and fascinated her. The colt's friend, Hope, had never left his bedside each year during the festival. No matter how much Hope wanted to see the Crystal Faire, she would not leave her friend's bedside in case something happened to him. This particular year something did happen. The young colt, Sombra, almost died from the magic of the Crystal Heart. His body fractured and splintered breaking into bits of shadow and nothingness. Hope encased his collapsing form in a powerful healing spell and pieced him back together. In that moment Sombra felt better on the day of the faire then he ever had before, but he didn't care about any of that when he saw Hope. A golden cadecus with wings had appeared on her hip. She had finally gotten her cutie mark. Sombra was so overjoyed for her that he forgot that he was feeling ill in the first place and jumped for joy with her.

A month later. Six months until Amore's decision was due. Hope received a letter from the two Princesses. Sombra's heart sank. He realised her destiny as she had seen in the Crystal Heart was becoming real, that meant his would be to. He found it hard to even be happy for her. Sombra ran off into the frozen wastelands. When he returned he was different. He put off a dark and evil energy. Sombra had planned to take the Crystal Heart and take over the Crystal Empire peacefully; but Amore intervened. She tried to calm Sombra and get him to think rationally, but all he could see was wrath. Sombra was heartbroken and wrathful. He would not listen to Amore's reason and just became more angry. With one final outburst Sombra turned Amore to stone and shattered her form into pieces. Hope was destroyed by what had happened. She could not believe what was happening in front of her.

Sombra turned and glared at Hope before turning his back and continuing usurping the throne. He felt great anger in his heart towards her. His only friend was going to leave him to study with the princesses. Sombra blasted his way into the throne room. There he found Buttercream sitting waiting for Amore to return. Buttercream was shocked to see Sombra standing so regally before him.

"Get out before I kill you too." Sombra shouted. He had not actually killed Amore, but knew that by toying with Buttercream's emotions he could get him out faster and safer.

"Who did you kill?" Buttercream asked shakily.

"Your loving wife of course." Sombra responded coldly.

"You couldn't have. She is the most powerful witch in all of Equestria!"

"I turned her to stone and shattered her before she could do anything to me. She is no longer the most powerful witch, nor will she ever be reincarnated to become as powerful again!" Sombra boasted darkly. The colour drained from Buttercream's face. He stepped down from his throne to get close to Sombra. How could the kind gentlecolt he had met years earlier become this monster standing before him claiming to have killed his wife. "Now, Prince Buttercream, I suggest you leave before I do the same with you."

Without a word Buttercream ran from the throne room. He was on the verge of tears. When he reached the place of the Crystal Heart all he could see there was a small stone ear. Buttercream choked on his breath. A hardly audible whine began making its way out of his mouth as he stood there shaking. Tears forced their way out and down his cheeks. He sharply drew his breath before screaming out in agony at the whole that had just been pounded through his heart. "AMORE!" He screamed out angrily, his voice rasping from the sheer force of the scream. Buttercream's blood-curdling screams pierced through the city.

* * *

 **Mwahaha! I know I'm evil for leaving a chapter off like this, but obviously just before Amore was turned to stone was the last entry she could have possibly made.**

 **Yes I realise the time skips got really intense, but It was because as Amore matured she returned to her journal less and lived her life more, only stopping to record things that were important to her (And hence important to the story.) Things will be slowing down from here for a while since we will be returning to the main story with Hope and Sombra. This IS the LAST chapter with Amore's journal obviously. Well prepare yourselves for some really dark stuffs. Anywho leave a review or follow my story to be informed of when I have another chapter out!**


	4. Sombra's Nightmare

After reading the final entry, which had clearly been Buttercream's, Sombra was washed over with painful memories. Sombra was unsure how Buttercream had made this entry given the situation. Sombra jumped back as horrible images of his past flashed before his eyes. He had been silent up until this point. His sudden outburst caught the attention of Hope and Cadence. They rushed over to him.

"Sombra!" Hope cried out, seeing Sombra stumble backwards, tripping over himself. "Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, Sorry. Bad memories just came back to me suddenly." Sombra said somewhat shakily as he stared at the scroll.

Cadence followed his eyesight to the scroll. "Is that..." She started as she walked over to the scroll stand. Cadence began to read the journal. "Th-this is! This is a complete recounting of Princess Amore's life! This is important historical information. Twilight will want this added to her library immediately!" Cadence was overjoyed at the finding, but sombra just looked on in fear and remorse. It had never occurred to him how much he had thoroughly destroyed ponies. He never killed, only crushed. Amongst all of that Sombra had still believed death would have been worse than what he caused, but not in this case. He had not only destroyed Buttercream but left him to die alone knowing even in the afterlife he would not see Amore ever again. That ultimately was worse than death; that was a sin worse than murder in his eyes. Tears rolled down Sombra's blank face as all of those thoughts ran through his mind.

"Sombra! Do you hear me?" Hope shouted, pulling him back out of her thoughts. He had been oblivious to the fact that Hope was talking to him until she shouted.

"Sorry."

"What did you read in that journal that scared you like this." Hope asked.

"Myself. I saw from another's perspective myself." Sombra said quietly as more tears streamed down his face.

Hope didn't know how to respond to this. Sombra had been evil, but had still never done anything too terrible to her; and in his rage and evil she could still see the good he had in him. She had focused solely on that good and how to bring it back, that she had not realised how badly he had hurt ponies.

"I did more than simply destroy Amore's physical body. I did it in a way that she could not be put back together or pass on from this life into the next, whatever life that may be. I also led her husband to believe she had actually died and left him to live out the rest of his life alone to never see his wife again, not even after death. That is how much of a monster I was. I fooled myself that I wasn't killing anypony and therefore i wasn't completely evil, but it would have just been so much more kind to kill Buttercream right then and there, rather than let him suffer. I am a monster."

"Don't say that!" Hope snapped at him, "Perhaps you weren't a good pony, but at least you had some morals. That was a sign you could be changed. And you are _not_ a monster!" Hearing those words from his mouth made her irrationally angry. Everything she had worked towards getting him back seemed to her as if it meant nothing to him. She blushed in fury. He had said those words before to make himself seem like more, to seem greater, and it had bothered her then; but this was different, he was putting himself down in shame, and she would not tolerate it.

"I'm sorry, Hope. I don't know how I can cope with the knowledge of what I did, and with no way of making it right it just hurts." Sombra replied, still tearing up a bit.

"I know it hurts, I lived a thousand years without you thinking you were probably dead, but it didn't stop me from trying to save you. It hurt. I was alone- somewhat- and I partly blamed myself for your having turned, and I had to live with that idea nagging at the back of my mind" Hope replied softly, showing that she knew what Sombra was feeling.

"Sombra?" Cadence interrupted, "Can you remember what kind of stone Amore turned into?" sombra raised his head with a sudden realisation.

 _Cadence! You're a genius for thinking of that!_

"Red Obsidian! It was the only stone I knew how to create through my magic at the time, and one of the easier to create with dark magic!" Sombra's mood was lightened slightly by this.

"Red Obsidian?" Cadence asked skeptically.

"Yes! Its formed almost the same way as normal obsidian, except other gases or minerals are present in the cooling process." Sombra replied matter-of-factly.

"I see," Cadence started as she began to think. Suddenly she gasped, "Hey! Follow me!" Cadence turned and left the room quickly. Sombra and Hope exchanged a look of confusion before running after the Princess.

Cadence lead the two upstairs to her and Shining Armor's room. She pushed opened the door and let them inside. Hope and Sombra walked passed her as she held the door. Cadence closed the door behind them before walking over to her shelf. Mostly Cadence had books on her shelf, but she also had a few relics. She lifted a curved red/black cone off of her shelf.

"I found this years ago. I never knew what it was. I figured it belonged to one of the statues in the city, but I couldn't find the statue it should have belonged to so I put it up on my shelf. I think it might belong to Princess Amore." Cadence said as she held up the stone unicorn horn.

"Princess Cadence! This could be exceptionally helpful for finding the rest of Princess Amore! I can't believe you've had this all this time!"

"If I had known what it was I probably would have begun piecing Amore together years ago; well that is if I had known exactly what had happened to her like I do now."

"Hope, Cadence. I think I might know a spell that could help with the search now that we have the horn." Sombra said as he walked close to it. "The spell is a type of magnetism spell, the horn will be attracted to pieces of itself and try to pull them closer. The spell is a lot more close range than the spell used to locate somepony, so not only will the spell not work for anything farther away than a couple miles, the shards have to be within a few feet to be pulled closer. Despite the set backs, the spell should actually work better for now until we have found enough pieces."

"That might just work Sombra," Cadence said happily. Sombra took the horn and began to cast the spell. The horn seemed to resist at first, but eventually sombra was able to cast the spell. When Sombra finished he quickly shoved the horn in a pouch.

"Quick we need another pouch to keep the shards in. We will keep the horn in this pouch, and nestle the other pouch inside this one." Sombra said holding up the pouch he had shoved the horn in. "I figured I can cast a counter spell to the horn's new magnetism on the outisde of this pouch, seal the two pouches so pieces don't get inside and touch the horn, interfering with the spell, and then we can just hold open the inner pouch and let the pieces jump in."

Sombra finished proposing his idea and cast the counter-spell on the outside of the bag. Cadence grabbed another bag for him and put it inside the first so that its bottom rest on top of the horn. Sombra magically sealed the two bags together and cinched the bags shut. He proudly held up their new dousing object. Sombra reopened the bag and pointed the opening about in Cadence's room. Nothing much happened. Occasionally little bits of red or black sand would fly into the bag, but one or two grains was nothing to boast about when they needed to find about two tons of this stuff.

After Hope and Sombra had sufficiently scoured Cadence's room, they began scanning the hallways. Very little was being picked up at all. All that had been collected after hours of searching wasn't even enough to be annoying if it got in your swimsuit. So little was there Sombra feared if he breathed over the pile, it would all blow away and they would have to search for it again. The two kept carefully scanning every inch of the castle, but night was coming up quickly and they needed to rest soon.

Hope and Sombra joined Cadence and Shining Armor for dinner that night. The group talked about their productive day. Sombra and Hope filled Shining Armor in on their plan and Cadence told him about the discovery of Amore's room, her personal journal, and her shelf of ancient relics.

"I can't believe you guys actually made that kind of progress in one day. Sombra you were just completely revived this morning, and you guys actually have a considerably plausible plan." Shining Armor said in joy and amazement. "We should send Amore's Journal to Twilight, she would love to have that document added to her library. She might even transcribe it onto new paper so that others can read it while the orignal is preserved."

"That's what I was thinking, I just want to make sure I send it with someone I trust. I don't want it getting lost in the mail, or mistakenly burnt by magical delivery." Cadence replied cautiously. Her mind was searching for the best way of sending the artifact along to her sister-in-law. "Hope? Sombra? I know you too are on a very important quest, but could I ask that _you_ deliver the scroll to Twilight Sparkle for me?"

"I-"

"Of Course!" hope interrupted Sombra, "Along the way we could scan the path for pieces of Amore."

"I like the idea, Hope; but don't you think the pieces might be more focused in this city since this is where I destroyed her?" Sombra's voice cracked a little as he said 'destroyed'. He still hated himself for having done that, but felt this journey was a good way to right his wrongs with Amore.

"Sombra, if the grains of Amore-sand were as focused as you are thinking, wouldn't we have found more than a pinch in the castle where you turned her to stone?" Sombra couldn't argue with that logic.

"Of the hundreds of rooms in this castle," Cadence said, exaggerating just a little, "We have only unsealed a few and readied even fewer. There are only two guest rooms that are suitable for guests, and they are on almost opposite sides of the castle. We could let you two share a room, but the beds in either are only made for one person not two."

"Get me a napsack and a pillow, and I will sleep on the floor, Hope can have the bed." Sombra said before Hope could suggest anything. Hope was touched at his proposition. She wanted to object and suggest she take the floor, but she knew Sombra was stubborn and wouldn't accept.

"Thank you Sombra." Hope said, "But there is another room, wouldn't you want your own?"

"I do but I don't at the same time. I want some proper time with you since I have been back instead of just trying to take over equestria without harming you. So I figured while we relax we can just get caught up and go to sleep when we are ready." Sombra said whole-heartedly. He had missed his days as a child with Hope. Getting to play with his friend without a care in the world.

"Alright that will work just fine I suppose." She replied in mock passiveness. Sombra caught her tease and laughed a little.

"Alright well rooms are settled. I will go get a napsack and pillow for you sombra, and Shining Armor will show you to your room." Cadence said before she walked off. Shining armor led them down a hallway Hope and Sombra had already explored while dousing for Amore-sand. Their room was on the left through one of the more modest looking doors. None of the doors in the castle looked very modest as they were all made of brilliant, show-offish crystals, but compared to the other doors Hope had seen, this door was definitely more modest. Hope immediately went over and jumped onto the bed after Shining Armor opened the door. Shining just laughed at the sight. Shining stood in the door waiting for Cadence to return with Sombra's beddings. They weren't waiting for very long before Cadence was at the doorway with Sombra's supplies.

Sombra laid out the napsack on the floor and nestled his pillow just inside the opening. He didn't jump onto his "bed", like Hope had, since the floor was made of crystal; rather he just laid down gently. He laid on his back staring at the sparkling ceiling. He took in the moment. He was actually relaxing. Having such a relaxing moment for the first time in so many years was very peaceful. Sombra's breathing began to slow. He had intended to talk to Hope for a bit, but he was more tired than he had thought. Sombra quickly slipped to sleep, while Hope laid there in bed awake. Hope turned to look at Sombra who was breathing hardly audible breaths. _He's asleep already?_ She thought to herself, somewhat disappointed that she did not get to talk to him. Hope wasn't sure what she wanted to talk about, she just knew she wanted to keep talking to him. Hope laid there in the silence a bit longer before she began to fall asleep as well.

* * *

Sombra was standing alone in the bedroom. _Hope must have left to the bathroom,_ He concluded. He stepped out of the bedroom into the hallway and peered left and right. He turned right down the hall towards the dining room. No one was there. _Surely someone must be awake, the sun is completely above the horizon._ Sombra went downstairs into the throne room. Still no one was there. Sombra went down the next set of stairs to go outside, but he stopped and went back up. Sombra went upstairs towards Cadence's room. Sombra reached to knock on the door. The door budged open when he knocked on it. No one was inside. _Okay, they must be outside._ Before going back downstairs to go outside, Sobra stopped by the bedroom to see if Hope had returned to the bed. Still no one. Sombra was worried, he knew he shouldn't be worried, but he was. Sombra went outside into the courtyard. Sombra knew something was wrong when he stepped outside and not even the guards were at the gates. Sombra called out to see if anyone would respond. There was no response.

A figure in the corner of the garden shifted. Sombra had not noticed the figure standing in the shadow; it startled him a little. The figure, while clearly a pony, had very fluid snakelike movements as it got closer to Sombra. A chill ran down Sombra's spine. Sombra backed up away from the now quickly approaching figure. Sombra turned to run but when he turned around he was face-to-face with the hooded figure. Sombra's heart was racing. He was terrified.

"Wh-who are you?" Sombra asked shakily.

The hooded figure was silent for a moment as it circled Sombra, "You know who I am, Sombra." The figure's words were cold in Sombra's ears. Sombra knew the voice, but could not place it.

"Who are you?" Sombra pressed.

"One of your victims" The hooded figure pulled back the hood to reveal his rotting face. The figure was dead and had been for a very long time, but Sombra could still make out what colour the figure's face was.

"B-b-b..." Sombra's voice trailed.

"Go on. I know you recognize me."

"Buttercream..." Sombra's voice shook in terror. he turned to run the opposite direction, but was met by another creature. A spirit stood before him. "Amore?" Sombra turned to run towards the garden entrance but was met by every single pony he had ever tortured or cause to suffer. Sombra's breathing picked up. The entire croud closed in on him, encircling and smothering him as they piled on top of him. The croud of ponies was chanting 'Sombra' quietly but angrily. Sombra was in full panic, shaking and screaming when a voice like a crystal pierced through the horror.

"Sombra!"

Sombra sat bolt upright in his napsack. He was sweating profusely. hope was sitting beside him. Sombra looked out the window, it was still dark outside. _It was all a dream_. Sombra tried to calm himself, but he was overwhelmed with fear and sadness. Sombra began to cry.

"Sombra, its okay." Hope cooed soothingly.

Sombra didn't say a word; he instead reached over and hugged Hope tight. She was the only pony he hadn't hurt. Hope was surprised by the hug as it was somewhat out of character for Sombra. Sombra just cried into her shoulder.

"Everything will be okay." She said softly as she returned his hug. Sombra eventually pulled away and wiped his face.

"Sorry about that. I know I normally don't do stuff like that." Sombra said, blushing lightly.

"Sombra you don't have to be sorry or embarrassed to show emotion like that."

"I know, I was hit with all of that so suddenly I didn't know what to do. I was mostly apologizing for soaking your shoulder in tears." He said with a little smile.

Sombra laid back down and rolled away from hope to face the wall. Hope had no response. She knew exactly what was bothering him. His past was a nightmare for him and it was relentless. Hope laid next to him on her back. Her side was pressed against his back. Sombra could feel her warmth against his body and found it relaxing. He still had trouble sleeping, while Hope had dozed off quite quickly. Sombra soon fell asleep too.

* * *

Hope woke up first. She had rolled over facing away from Sombra, but sombra had rolled and put his hoof around her. Hope laid there awake trying to figure out how to get out of his hooves without waking him. She felt somewhat awkward lying there, but at the same time it felt _right_. _No!_ Hope thought to herself. blushing as she pushed that thought out of her head. She had to get up now! In her shifting, Sombra stirred and rolled off of her. _Yes!_ she thought, quickly getting up and leaving the room. Hope quietly made her way down the hall towards the dining room.

"Good morning." hope said, finding Cadence sitting at the table eating.

"Good morning Hope. Did you and Sombra sleep well?" Cadence asked knowingly, grinning slyly. Hope blushed when she realised what Cadence was asking.

"W-what are you talking about?" Hope asked, pretending not to know what Cadence was referring to.

"After Shining and I heard a good deal of commotion, screaming coming from your side of the castle, I decided to come check on you two. I found you two sleeping in each other's hooves."

"It wasn't like that! Sombra had had a terrible nightmare about his past and I laid next to him to comfort him. He had no control over what he did while he was asleep!" Hope snapped, blushing furiously; her face was a vibrant maraschino-cherry-red. She knew that Cadence's words were just a light teasing, but she couldn't help but respond defensively. Sombra was only a friend, there was nothing going on between them.

"Well, you did the right thing choosing to comfort your friend rather than keep yourself comfortable. It shows what kind of friend you really are." Cadence said reassuringly.

"Thanks. It felt like the only thing I _could_ do. I have never seen him like that before, he was completely broken. I don't know what he dreamed, but I am fairly certain that it had to do with his past and all the ponies he tortured." Hope choked on her final word. She was well aware what Sombra had done when he was evil, but she still couldn't bring herself to speak about it, because it wasn't him. She felt compelled to try to keep his image up and not speak about his painful past, even though everyone already knew and was accepting of his mistakes. There was no good reason to choke up every time she mentioned something he'd done wrong, yet she did anyway.

"I'm sure he appreciates how much of a heart you have; how much of an ability to see the good in him through all of the bad that was once there." Cadence had caught her stumble and tried to console her.

Sombra walked into the dining room looking still half asleep. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before sitting down. He felt rested, but wasn't quite awake just yet. His mane was matted to one side of his face. Sombra straightened his mane and got a drink of water before returning to the table.

"Good morning." he said to Cadence and Hope, halfway trying not to make full eye contact with Hope.

"Good morning, Sombra." Hope said sweetly.

"Good morning, did you sleep well?" Cadence asked

"I slept fine after... when I fell back asleep last night." Sombra said, not finishing his first thought. He avoiding eye contact with Hope again while speaking.

"Don't be embarrassed Sombra, you were in distress. Hope's choice to sleep next to you was to help you relax. There is nothing embarrassing or inappropriate about it." Cadence reassured him.

"Oh okay." Sombra didn't have much to say in reply to this, he just blushed heavily as he looked down at the table.

"Would you two like something to eat?" Cadence asked.

"Yes!" The two said in unison.

"Good! I made pancakes! I think I might have some cream-cheese frosting if you want to have something fancy like at a restaurant." Cadence offered.

"That sounds good!" Sombra said excitedly.

"Do you also have a strawberry syrup to go with it?" Hope asked, "That was always my favourite way of having pancakes when I was little." Hope looked a little sad with her last few words.

After Cadence left the room Sombra asked, "Is everything okay? You looked rather depressed at your own request."

"I am fine. Strawberry cream-cheese frosting pancakes. It's the first, last and only meal I can remember having with my mom before I was orphaned. I was very little. I was too young to remember much, but I could remember the taste of her pancakes."

Sombra just stared sadly at her. He wasn't sure what to say in response. How had he never known this about her, he knew she was orphaned like he was but he had never known anything about her past before being at the orphanage.

After Sombra and Hope finished their breakfast, the prepared their bags and set off for Ponyville. It was going to be a long journey, especially going by foot. They would have taken the train, but did not want to risk missing shards of red-obsidian along the way. Sombra and Hope were going to spend several days walking. Between the two of them, they had food for five days, a tent, two napsacks, a large blanket, a lighter and a couple fire starter blocks. They should be set no matter what happens.

A few hours passed and lunch was nearing. As Sombra and Hope walked and scanned the ground with the bag, an audible growl could be heard from Sombra's stomach. Sombra let out a gasp as his gut gurgled.

"Sounds like you're a bit hungry!" Hope giggled at him.

"Yeah I suppose it would be a good time to stop for lunch."

Sombra and Hope stopped walking and laid out their large blanket on the ground. The frozen wastelands seemed somewhat out of season. Everything was oddly dry and there was no snow. It was terribly cold still, and the ground was dead. Sombra and Hope sat on the blanket and got out a sandwich and pack of veggies each. They sat in the cold and ate. They were cold, but they didn't mind much. Sombra had spent a very long time out in the frozen wastelands during some of its worst blizzards. Hope had spent over a thousand years in and out of the wastelands running errands for the umbrum ponies. They both were well used to the cold. They finished their lunch and cleaned all of their belongings up. Hope and Sombra continued their long walk to Ponyville.

* * *

 **That's it for chapter 4! I had a bit of trouble wrapping this chapter up, but I shouldn't have that trouble with the next chapter. I already have chapter 5 completely planned out.  
**

 **As for the main plot? its maybe 5-10% along? XD I am not sure. I do know its gotten hardly anywhere in these four chapters, but that's good thing right? I hope I can make a proper slow build to the climax, and then recover well to a closing! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! Read and Review!**


	5. The Road to Ponyville

Hope and Sombra finished their sandwiches and began packing up to continue their journey. Sombra folded the large blanket and put it back in his bag as hope tidied the remains of their lunch.

"How long do you think this 'mission' is going to take?" Sombra asked Hope as he pulled out the bag.

"It might take a long while, Sombra, we need to have patience. The more pieces we find, the faster, after a point, the search will get" Hope replied. She wasn't entirely sure about what she was saying but spoke with confidence anyway.

Hope and Sombra walked along slowly sweeping the bag back and forth letting little tiny shards of stone fly in ever so often. They kept walking, enjoying the quiet for a while. After a couple hours had passed they noticed the air felt a bit warmer. _We must be reaching the edge of the Frozen Wastelands,_ Sombra thought. Sombra swept the bag back and forth again, this time noticing a small rock wiggle. Sombra moved the bag back by the rock again. The rock wiggled a bit more before jumping into the satchel with the rest of the shards. Sombra called hope over to show her the large piece that had just been found.

"This is great, Sombra! With another piece that large we can make another bag and quicken our search!" Hope cried out in joy. Frantically digging through her sidebags, Hope searched for another small bag. Unfortunately she had not brought extra pouches. Hope frowned in disappointment. She sat there thinking for a moment before hopping up suddenly. "Give me a second, Sombra. I have never teleported this far before, but we need two more satchels!"

Sombra was a bit confused by what Hope said. Hope had not relayed her plan to Sombra at all. Hope concentrated hard. Her horn began glowing vibrantly and she was slowly becoming engulfed by a bright light. A crackling energy started forming around her. Normally a unicorn would have zapped away by now with a teleportation spell, but she kept standing there as more energy crackled around her. Sombra eventually looked away as the light began to hurt his eyes. The crackling sound got louder and louder. Finally hope vanished with a bang. The small explosion caused by the spell knocked Sombra over and charred the grass around where Hope had stood only a moment ago. Sombra stood there confused for a moment. He decided that he would just continue searching for shards of Princess Amore around where Hope had vanished from.

Hope materialized at the edge of the Crystal Empire, charring the grass where she appeared. "I need to make sure I teleport again from this spot..." Hope said to herself, not wanting to cause any other scorch marks. Hope felt tired, but she pressed on into the city. Hope ran to the nearest store to look for small drawstring hip-bags. She didn't have much luck finding quality hip-bags until she came across a novelty store that specialized in items such as that. Hip-bags, Messenger bags, side-bags for long trips, purses, even blankets and towels. This store had novelty accessories! Hope was amazed at the wide selection of items, and all of them featuring characters from pop-culture, or pop-culture references. There were Harry Trotter bags, Daring Do bags, and every other fandom. Hope knew she was in a nerd store, but she didn't care. Heck she even enjoyed it. Hope memorized this store's location for a later time and got back to her mission. She grabbed two Daring do drawstring bags and ran to the counter to pay for them. The cashier quickly rang up Hope seeing that she was in a rush.

Sombra was sitting down about five feet away from the circle burnt into the ground waiting for hope to come back. Hope ran back to the circle of burnt grass where she had materialized earlier. Hope tried to stand as centralized in the circle as possible to prevent further damage. She began casting her teleportation spell again. After a few moments, she zapped away. Hope left the singed grass looking worse than before.

Sombra laid down to nap while he waited for Hope to return. He hadn't been laying down for very long before all the hair on his back stood straight up. Before sombra could react, Hope "exploded" into existance above him. She landed on top of him knocking him back onto the ground while he had tried to stand. Hope was sweating a bit and looked very tired.

"Hope are you okay?" Sombra asked with concern.

"OhmygoshIfoundthecooleststoreandfoundnoveltyitemsforeverythingthathaseverbeencool!Ididmanagetogetussomebagstomakeanother'dirtmagnet'..." Hope stopped rambling after a moment and took a huge breath. She was gearing up to start again when Sombra put his hoof up.

"How can you possibly have this much energy?" Sombra asked, knowing how much energy it had to have taken to teleport the way she had. Sombra noticed Hope's eyes were dilated beyond what was natural.

"I bought something called a five-herrr energy! its like this tiny little bottle but it definitely gives you energy. I am not sure what a herrr is or what its relation to energy in terms of units is, but the thing definitely did what I was hoping it would and I was able to teleport right back to you easily, except I miscalculated and teleported above you instead of teleporting to the spot I had left from like I had hoped to, but I suppose thats alright, I got here in one piece!" Hope gasped for air again as she finished her sentence.

"Hope, drink some water and take deep slow breaths. The 'hr' on the bottle stands for the word 'hour' and its saying that the drink gives you five hours worth of energy, but considering the amount of energy you have to have spent on that kind of teleportation, you probably won't feel energetic for very much longer." Sombra wasn't sure how he knew any of what he said; he just had a firm hunch that said Hope most likely used up all of the energy drink.

Hope didn't respond, instead just did what Sombra had said. She grabbed her water bottle and took a good drink of the cold water. After screwing the cap back onto the bottle, Hope took a very long deep breath, slowing to a stop as she breathed in and slowly beginning to exhale again slowly coming to a stop before repeating the process. Hope did this three times before she began to breath normally again. She had calmed down incredibly.

"Better?" Sombra asked, seeing that Hope was a bit more calm.

"Better." Hope managed, beginning to feel shaky. "maybe not." Hope was calm but some of the more uncommon side-effects of the energy drink were setting in. Hope was getting very, very shaky. Her limbs felt heavy and weak as they trembled underneath her. Hope began to sweat worse. "not better." she said quietly collapsing to the ground.

Sombra somewhat felt bad for having calmed her down, but at the same time he knew it wasn't his fault, it was that energy drink. Sometimes people just got sick from them instead of actually getting properly energized. Sombra looked up at the sky, the sun was only a few degrees away from the horizon. While Hope laid on the ground shivering, Sombra pitched the tent and laid out the napsacks. sombra picked up Hope and carried her into the tent and laid her on her napsack. He knew it would not be a good idea to cover her. Her body still had too much energy and would overheat, making her feel worse. After Sombra had laid Hope down he left the tent to prepare dinner. There wasn't a whole lot to prepare, Sombra simply unwrapped a sandwich for himself and got one out for Hope in case she felt okay enough to eat any time soon.

Sombra cleaned the remains of his dinner up and put away Hope's sandwich. Sombra decided to continued scanning the ground for pieces of Princess Amore before he went to bed. He wasn't quite tired yet, but he also wanted to make sure that if Hope awoke and needed anything he could help her. Sombra was having no luck in finding any pieces, but he kept at it anyway. If he found anything that the bad couldn't suck in, he would feel the bag pull itself towards the piece, though Sombra doubted he would find anything that big. Out of curiosity, Sombra held the bag's opening up away from the ground and pointed it around in a circle, facing towards the Crystal Empire, facing around to the right and back to the left before swinging all the way around to face Ponyville. He didn't feel any tugging. _Oh well, I suppose there's only going to be small pieces for a while._

It was getting late and Sombra kept waiting up to make sure Hope was okay, but he was getting quite tired. Sombra had given up on sweeping the ground for princess dust. Sombra peeked inside the tent to see how Hope was doing. She was shivering badly. Sombra stepped inside the tent to cover Hope then lay down himself. Sombra glanced around, there was nothing he could possibly cover hope with, and he couldn't move her inside her napsack without waking her. Sombra picked up his own napsack and completely unzipped it so that it unfolded into a full size blanket. Sombra laid the napsack over Hope and himself. He didn't mind laying in the dirt; he just wanted to ensure Hope was warm. It was not safe to be unprotected in this cold weather.

The next morning Hope woke before Sombra. She still did not feel as well as she'd have liked, but she definitely felt better than she had. She got into the food bag to eat. She didn't particularly want another sandwich, but there weren't any other options so she had to deal with it. _At least there are different kinds of sandwiches in here to choose from._ Hope thought to herself. Hope sat down to eat. She had caused them not to cover much distance at all yeasterday. _If only I had been more patient, we could be much closer to Ponyville right no_ _w._ Hope was frustrated with herself, but realized that it was necessary to have gotten the extra bag, without it they might have run out of space to carry the bits of obsidian. Hope considered her experimental magic a success... to a degree; she would not repeat the step of downing an energy drink. Sombra began to wake, hearing this, Hope pulled herself out of her thoughts and began getting herself ready to get moving. She had a plan to cover a good distance today. Sombra rolled up his and hope's napsacks and put them away. Hope and Sombra collapsed the tent and put it away as well.

"Okay Sombra, I have a plan to cover a good distance today." Hope began

"What do you have planned?"

Hope didn't respond, she simply grabbed Sombra and teleported away. When they materialized, they were a half mile down the road from where they'd been. Hope took a good look at the road head to be able to teleport easily and whisked them off again. Hope did this a muber of times. Covering several miles in mere minutes. Hope and Sombra were very near the edge of the tundra at this point. Soon they would have the ice forest to their left. Hope zapped them along a couple more times. There it was, the Ice Forest, a dense forest on the tundra's edge where the snow and ice never melt, but the trees grow thick anyways. There are many dangers lurking in the icy shadows of this forest.

Hope geared up to teleport again when a shrill howl echoed out from the woods. Her horn had already begun crackling and the spell had been cast as her attention was broken. Hope gazed, frozen in fear, deep into the forest. One thing was on her mind in the split second before teleporting: icewolves, the cold frozen brethren of timberwolves. Hope and sombra materialized in the forest. there were trees to every side and the path was no where to be seen. Based on the previous jumps, Hope estimated they were no less than a quarter of a mile in from the road. The shrill howling continued, it was much closer than before.

"Hoooope?..."Sombra began, but trailed off and never finished.

"Hope was beginning to panic and payed no attention to Sombra's words, audible or not. Yellow eyes could be seen gleaming in the forest, but a body was yet to be seen. Horrible flashes of hope's past began playing through her head. Hope was on the verge of hyperventilating. Sombra kept turning about; seeing new pairs of eyes here and there. Sombra lit his horn to reveal the pack of icewolves encircling them. The icewolves pounced in as a group. Sombra grabbed Hope and teleported just outside of the circle of icewolves. As the icewolves sat confused, Sombra cast various spells at them. The smallest icewolf that took the majority of the shots exploded into icy shards. The rest of the pack looked on in anger. Hope found herself paralyzed in fear. Sombra hoisted Hope onto his back and ran as fast as he could while carrying her. Hope held her eyes shut tight. Tears dripped from her eyes as she silently wept in terror. Sombra had never seen her this scared of anything; she hadn't even feared him when he was a monster; in this moment, the only thing that mattered was keeping her safe.

Sombra had been running for a while and his back and legs were beginning to ache, but he pressed on anyways. Hope had situated herself so that she was holding on around Sombra's neck. Still hearing the wolves, Sombra glanced backwards; the wolves were gone. Sombra turned forward again to be met face to face with an angry icewolf. He began backing up and bumped into another icewolf. Sombra looked left and right; more icewolves were coming from either direction. Sombra was too tired to try teleporting again, and hope was too terrified to do much of anything. Sombra, seeing his dire situation, pulled Hope off his back. She yelped and the suddenness of Sombra's action. Sombra made a clear message to the icewolves as he stood firmly over Hope and straightened himself up: You have to go through me first. Sombra closed his eyes, his body covered most of Hope from the wolves. Suddenly a wave of heat pulsed through the group. It persisted, pulsating strongly. The wolves nearest to it melted away, the others ran off whimpering. A golden-maned stallion stood with his horn lit.

"It's okay, they're gone." Sombra whispered to Hope.

Hope slowly opened her eyes to see it was true. She came out from under Sombra and stood up.

"Please, come with me." Said the beige pony as he led the way to his small cottage.

"Who are you?" SOmbra asked as they walked into the little house.

"You do not recognize me? Shame." he replied vaguely. Sombra stared at the pony for a moment. He got nothing and looked around the room hoping some of the stallion's belongings might strike up his memory. Nothing helped. Sombra only wanted to question why the pony had the broken head of a redish-black statue on his coffee table. The pony noticed Sombra's curious gaze. "Beautiful, isn't it? Stoneworking at it's finest is an impressive talent. It is quite unfortunate that this statue is in this shape..."

"You did not answer me. Who are you?" Sombra pressed.

"If you can not remember me then it is of not matter to you as you are only here so that your friend may collect her witt before I point you back to the road." he responded vaguely again. Annoyed, Sombra just ignored the stallion. Sombra walked over to Hope who had taken a seat on the couch.

"Are you okay?" Sombra asked sympathetically.

"Hardly. I hate icewolves." Hope replied.

"Hope, you have seen greater horrors than even I havem why did those icewolves scare you so badly?" Sombra questioned. Hope sighed in reluctance.

"When I was a filly - very young and years before I met you - my family - parents and brother - and I were coming back to the Crystal Empire from a trip out of town. We were very close to the edge of town, but were still in the frozen wastelands. My older brother was carrying me on his back. As we neared the town we were attacked by a roaming pack of icewolves. My parents fought hard to protect my brother and i. My mom told my brother to take me and run into the city. We didn't make it far before and icewolve ambushed us. My brother threw me aside as the wolf pounced on us. The icewolf it his side. In response my brother attacked the wolf with magic trying to scare it off; he succeeded, but was badly injured. ignoring his injuries, my brother took me up again and continued on into town. Once we were inside the magical border and safe from further harm, my brother stopped and looked back. We sat and waited, we could hear our parents but could not see them. There were shouts of pain and anger... followed by screams... then silence. My brother drew a note in the dirt for my parents then we walked to the hospital. I never saw my parents again, and soon after reaching the hospital my brother died from his injury. He had lost too much blood and exerted too much energy. I was temporarily checked into a psychiatric ward after the traumatic experience. I was diagnosed with PTSD and depression. Being as young as I was, I healed quickly and was soon mentally stable again. Despite this, I was still traumatized, none of the treatments took away from the fact that I hear my parents die and watched my brother do the same. Thats probably why I was never _right_ in the head as a child... until I met you... the only pony who would even speak to me or befriend me."

Sombra didn't respond, he was frozen in sadness. His heart sat firmly in his throat and tears pushed at his eyes begging to burst forth. he did the only thing he could think to do, he hugged Hope. He held her tightly trying to console her.

"That is unfortunate, and I give you my sincerest condolences. Someone I loved was taken from me rather harshly as well." The beige stallion said consolingly. The slightest tone of resentment on his last few words. Hope turned her eyes sympathetically to the strange stallion.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Hope said sadly.

"Don't dwell on it. It was a very long time ago, likely before you were born young lady." The stallion replied.

Hope and Sombra exchanged a look as if to say 'Yeah right'.

Using his magic, the stallion picked up the stone head. "This is her. This statue was made in honor of my wife, but then it was desecrated shortly after." He sighed in sadness. "What brings you two this way?"

"We are on a mission to revive Princess Amore. She's not dead, just a shattered... statue..." Hope felt suspicious of the stallion's story. It was too fitting with her and Sombra's mission. The stallion's eyes only showed sadness, however, not any other sly or deceptive purposes.

"May I see what you have collected?"

Hope only took out the less full bag. Sombra, not being as suspicious or cautious, then took out the other bag. Although Sombra was annoyed by this stranger's avoiding giving his identity, Sombra did not yet have any reason to distrust the stallion. The stallion was not interested in taking both bags, he took only the bag that Hope had handed to him.

"Interesting. How are you gathering these pieces?"

"There is a spell cast on a rather large shard of stone belonging to Amore. This spell causes the stone to attract pieces of itself. The bag is actually two bags, the piece with the spell cast on it is between the two bags, which are sealed together at the top. A spell is cast on the outside of the outer bag that counter's out the attraction spell so that pieces don't stick to the outside of the pouch. Therefore you can only store pieces inside the bag and not risk knocking pieces off and losing them." Sombra explained.

"Genius. I don't think even I would have thought of something like this. May I try? Perhaps I can then show you something also?"

"Sure" Sombra replied. Hope shot him a frustrated look and reluctantly handed over the bag. The stallion opened the bag and pointed it around a bit, only finding a few bits of dust here or there that shot into the bag.

"As I thought, there isn't much on my floor. Now, watch." The stallion held the bag open wide and approached the statue head. The stone head wiggled a bit. the stallion got closer and the head scraped across the table into the bag. "It really is true." The stallion said tearing a bit, "Your bag does attract pieces of her"

"Buttercream?" Sombra asked in realization. The stallion nodded lightly.

"How much is there in the other bag?" Buttercream asked. Sombra opened it and showed him. Buttercream took the two bags and set the open on the table. He pulled the stone head out of the bag it was in. Buttercream then walked off into another room and returned with a large urn.

"I spent many, many hours using various spells to slowly piece this head together. The other pieces I stored in this urn." Buttercream dumped the bags onto the table and began casting spell after spell on the pile of rock and dust. Many pieces attached to the bust. Holes in the face were filled and an ear was reattached but still unfinished. Buttercream was on the verge of tears. "Its been a hundred years since I last found anything."

"Buttercream, let me unseal the bags for you, we have the horn and another large piece that could be used with the rest of the dust in your urn."

"I will take the horn, but keep the other large shard to continue searching as you are." Buttercream responded. Hope unsealed the bag containing the horn. Buttercream promptly attached the horn to the stone head. When he was finished casting his various spells, Buttercream poured the contents of his urn into the now unsealed bag. The bag was quite full now. Hope pulled this bag closed and set it inside the other bag, pulling that closed too. They were down to one search satchel again, but they were not upset by this.

"I know now who you are, but how are you still alive?" Sombra asked.

"I studied magic intensely for several years. With numerous experimental spells to lengthen my lifespan and thus the time I had to find my wife again, I unlocked the secrets of immortality. My tedious studies and degree in Magical Theory actually served me well."

"You're immortal?" Sombra asked somewhat in disbelief.

"Just as much as Celestia and Luna." He replied.

"That is quite impressive, but isn't it lonely?" Hope asked.

"Sometimes, but I have a goal and a purpose that keeps me from going insane or from becoming cruel. Would you two mind if I joined you on your journey?"

"I see no reason why that would be a problem, you do, after all, have more of a reason to be on this mission than either Hope or I." Sombra replied.

"Great! in a bit we should get going back onto the main road to... where are we going?"

"Ponyville." Sombra answered.

"To ponyville!" Buttercream exclaimed excitedly.

* * *

 **This chapter was a complete pain in my back end to write. Just like the first 4 chapters it tended to just write itself, even when I had writers block. I had a detailed plan for this chapter written out in my writing journal. Here are some of the notes I had one the chapter:  
**

 **\- two out of five day trip to ponyville**

 **\- mostly convo between Sombra and Hope**

 **\- small tent...**

 **\- Hope shares stories about before she met Sombra**

 **\- campfire snuggles...**

 **\- terrible sleep.**

 **\- Second day is encounter with an ice timberwolf (Maybe?)**

 **\- Silent campfire after battle**

 **\- terrible sleep the next night.**

 **Now comparing the chapter to my notes, what is really the only thing that happened? The chapter covers two days, Hope shares her horrifying past, and icewolves. Also I had planned to wait to reintroduce Buttercream until chapter 6 or 7, so now I have no idea what to do for either of those chapters...**

 **Did anybody catch references? I got my idea on teleportation from the original X-Men trilogy in which Night Crawler could only teleport if he could see where he was teleporting to or if he had seen it before, otherwise he could end up inside a wall. In addition to this I took an idea from Harry Potter too in which you must keep concentrated on your destination while disaperating otherwise you might end up someplace else or end up in pieces.**

 **Also I hope you liked my little "joke" on 5-hr energy. The facts given are from experience, and the fact that Hope mispronounces 'hr' is because she didn't spend her thousand years in the natural world and so doesn't quite know all of the modern abbreviations.**

 **Anyway I hope you enjoyed!**


	6. Ponyville

**Alright so here's chapter 6. My first 5 chapters tally up to 18,778 , which is already almost halfway to my goal of at least 40,000 words for this story, or about the length of a novella. I am not even halfway to where I want to be plot wise, so this story is coming along better than expected.**

 **I would like to say, and I don't want to sound douchey for it, if you guys like my story, great that makes me happy, if you don't I don't really care I am going to keep writing anyway. I had someone comment, "This shit sucks donkey ass". I really am not offended by this at all. How could anyone be offended? Anyway, my purpose, my goal in writing this story, is to better my skill as an author so that I may restart a non-fan-based sci-fi/fantasy novel I was writing. I didn't like the direction it was taking, nor the elementary reading level that it was. So I took a college English composition class, ENG 111, and will be taking another next semester, ENG 112, before finally taking Creative Writing. After I have gathered a great deal more skill, studied my favourite authors, and taken these classes I will begin writing my original novel again.**

 **For now, enjoy this chapter, I've got some stuffs planned for today!**

* * *

Dark clouds hung low threatening to rain all day. The overall mood of the group was dull and dreary. Hope felt insecure, as if someone was following them. She kept getting chills and was very jumpy. Sombra wasn't experiencing the paranoia that Hope was, but he wasn't in any better of a mood. Buttercream wasn't upset or in a bad mood, but he was quiet and his eyes showed a deep sadness that had likely been there for hundreds of years.

"Everything okay, Hope?" Sombra asked, receiving a small yelp from Hope.

"Yeah, I'm still a little chaken up from yesterday and I keep getting a feeling we're being followed." She said, looking back again.

"Would you like to go in front and lead? Maybe with us two behind you, you'll feel a bit better." Sombra suggested. He didn't entirely like the idea since he still felt awkward near buttercream, more so standing right next to him.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Hope replied, a sense of relief in her voice. Sombra and Hope switched places while they were walking.

Sombra looked up into the sky. The black storm clouds hung low and dry. _Why can't there be rain? Storm clouds are less ominous when it rains._ Sombra thought. He thought back to the day he usurped the throne of the crystal empire. These same dreary clouds hung that night too. Sombra quickly glanced at Buttercream, his heart filling with guilt and sadness. Almost as if he could sense it, Buttercream said, "You know, I forgive you."

"Huh" Sombra said, taken off guard

"For what you did to me, I forgive you."

"..." Sombra was completely taken aback, he had no idea what to say.

"I think I forgave you a long time ago, I just didn't realize it. When you are so bent on something, you can even ignore the fact that your whole demeanor or outlook has changed. I spent so many years in anger that one day I didn't realize I wasn't angry with you and just continued on my business; but completing a mission started by rage without the slightest feeling of anger is a very strange thing to do. I was so set on healing my wife and utterly destroying you that even when I no longer felt the need to do that, I kept it my goal. It's completely insane. Don't think you are the only one here who has done anything wrong, or that you are the only one needing forgiveness. One Thousand years is ample time to piece together a shattered statue, and I spent most of it hating rather than searching."

Sombra was still shocked, "I- you-"

"He's trying to say to let go of it, Sombra" Hope said.

"Exactly." Buttercream confirmed, "Dwelling on what you were rather than what you are is going to wear you thin real quick and you might become something worse than you were."

Sombra hung his head. He felt a mix of emotions. He felt sad and guilty of his past, somewhat embarrassed and angry that Buttercream was talking to him like this, yet at the same time he felt relieved because he knew Buttercream was right. "thanks" He said finally.

As the group walked the icy forest to their left came to an end and the Everfree forest began. Ponyville was only a little less than a day's walk from here. Keeping the Everfree forest to their left, and walking at a good pace, they should pass under the cliff that holds Canterlot within the next couple hours, and then Ponyville by dinner time. The clouds over head didn't lighten any as they walked, nor did they ever progress and release the rain they held.

" _Caaaaaaaan..._ " Hope sang. Buttercream and Sombra looked up, hearing her soft voice, " _anyponyyyyyyy, find me-e-eeee someponyyy to-oooo looooooove..._ "

Sombra smiled lightly. She was taking her mind off of her troubles, and taking the others' minds off their troubles.

" _Ooh, Each morning I get up I die a little,_ " She continued.

" _Can barely stand on my feet.._ " Buttercream joined, singing along with Hope. Sombra rustled through his thoughts trying to remember the lyrics to the song.

" _Take a look in the mirror and cry_ " They continued. Sombra knew the song, he waited however to make sure he was completely right

" _Lord what you're doing to me,_  
 _But I just can't get no relief, Lord!  
Somepony (somepony) ..oooh somepony (somepony)  
Can anypony find me somepony to love?"_

Sombra held out, preparing to join the song for the next verse when lightning cracked not too far off ahead. The sound and the light were experienced at nearly the same moment, only a split-second apart. Hope's voice trailed as it began to rain violently. As quick as he could manage Sombra formed a bubble around them using his magic. They had only been in the rain for a few seconds, but were all completely soaked. With their moment ruined by the rain, the trio pressed forward in silence for a few moments. Sombra felt the hair on his side begin to stand up, he looked left towards Buttercream. Buttercream looked like a frizzed mess, all of his fur was standing straight up. Buttercream had distanced himself a bit from Sombra and Hope, but sombra could still feel the static.

Buttercream mouthed, "Save her" to Sombra. Sombra understood what was happening. The entire moment seemed to slow down. He could feel a surge of energy in the air as he lunged forward landing on top of Hope as he formed a protective shield around them. A brilliant flash of light told them that lightning had struck. Buttercream was nowhere to be seen in that moment. There was nothing showing that he had made it away, but nothing to show the opposite either. When the dust cleared, Buttercream was gone. There was no sign of him anywhere.

* * *

Buttercream came to his senses in a dark room. He assumed he must be in one of the nearby cloud cities. This couldn't be Cloudsdale though, since the clouds surrounding him were dark grey. He stood up and went to take a step forward. Stumbling from the lack of floor in front of him, Buttercream quickly set his hooves back on the flooring he found himself on.

 _Great_ _._ Buttercream thought, _I can't stand anywhere except on the tiles._ Buttercream circled around, inspecting the floor to find that he was standing on an isolated piece of flooring. He was standing on the only solid ground in this room with no way to leave, except straight down through the floor. Falling through the cloud floor was not an option, there was no telling how high up he was, but he was not taking his chances. _I might be immortal but I'm not invincible._ Buttercream thought, recalling the last time he had gotten himself into an accident that would kill anypony else. He flinched lightly at the thought of that traumatizing experience. He had never felt such excruciating pain before. _Nope. I'll just stay here and see what's going on._

A darkness filled the room like a fluid into a tank. Buttercream couldn't see anything through the blackness.

A menacing voice reached through the black to Buttercream's ears, "Don't close your eyes. Don't close them ever."

A feeling of dread hit Buttercream's gut as the cold menacing voice echoed in his mind.

"w-what?" He asked weekly.

"You know what I mean, You know the truth, yet you shield yourself. I suppose it's of no real concern to me, whether you close your eyes to me or not, I can just kill you faster then."

"Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

"I think you know that answer, and the second one two. I am not going to give you any spoilers if you don't already know though! That would just ruin my fun!"

"Right okay, well where am I?"

"That I _can't_ have you knowing, then I _really_ wouldn't be having any fun."

"Okay, I'm done with this, let me go."

"You see I can't do that."

"And why not."

"for the love of- have you not been listening, that would not be _FUN._ Do you get it?"

"Honestly I don't, you just seem like a lunatic."

"They don't call people like me 'Psychopaths' for no good reason. Have fun being alone!" The darkness suddenly cleared. With the darkness, the mysterious voice also vanished. No one was left in the room except for Buttercream. Buttercream tried to clear the clouds and see the ground below. It didn't work. Buttercream did not want to stay with this lunatic for fear of what he might do to him. Buttercream closed his eyes hard and cleared his mind. Buttercream stepped forward off of his isolated piece of floor and fell straight down. There was no way of knowing how far the clouds extended, how far up he was, or even what would be on the ground beneath him.

* * *

Sombra and Hope were looking about frantically. They feared Buttercream had been thrown pretty badly by the lightning. Suddenly and Sombra heard something above and slightly off ahead. Sombra looked toward the source of the noise and gasped.

"H-Hope!" Sombra said, exasperatedly, "There!" Sombra pointed towards the stallion falling from the air. Hope didn't say a word but took off running to try to be beneath him. Buttercream seemed to have a slight forward momentum as he fell, because Hope could not stay directly beneath him. Hope tried to catch buttercream in a levitation spell, but he was falling too quickly and kept slipping out of the spell before it could completely envelope him. Buttercream hit the ground with an audible crunch and a scream. Buttercream writhed slightly, wailing in agony. Hope immediately levitated him off the ground and began using healing spells on him.

"Will he be okay Hope?" Sombra asked with concern.

"I'm sure he would be, he is immortal. I just can't stand to see him like _this_ , nor can we just abandon him here."

"Ahh!" Buttercream yelped when Hope popped his dislocated vertebrae back into place. Hope continued to work on Buttercream's various injuries; occasionally relocating bones, piecing together broken or shattered bones, closing cuts, sealing internally bleeding wounds, etc. Hope was working multiple spells at once for several minutes before Buttercream could even talk again.

"About how high up were you, Buttercream?" Hope asked.

"I don't know. I was falling for while." Buttercream responded.

"You had to be _quite_ high, by the time we could see you, you weren't gaining any speed towards the ground."

"And that means what?"

"You reached Terminal velocity, were you in cloud the entire time?"

"Yes..."

"Thunderheads, they are hanging much too low though..." Sombra continued, "Something is _definitely_ not natural about those clouds."

Hope looked at Sombra with a mix of shock and amazement. She turned her head to face the clouds, _I knew it._ She thought.

"There! all done, how do you feel Buttercream?" Hope asked

"A little sore, but that's pretty good considering the circumstances!" Buttercream laughed lightly.

"Good! Now, would you mind co-casting a spell with me? We need to get to Ponyville and away from these clouds fast." Hope said somewhat forcefully. She was clearly very agitated by the clouds at this point.

"Are you thinking of Teleporting to Ponyville? From here?"

"Yes."

"We are very, very far away, miles and miles farther away from Ponyville than even the farthest recorded teleportation!"

"And? Do you want to stay near these clouds any longer or the potential harm the pose?"

"No, and i wasn't saying I wouldn't help, but you must understand the risk, _especially_ in _co_ -casting a teleportation spell. We _must_ be picturing the same location or we will arrive in pieces at both locations!"

"I understand the risk, that's why I am going to have Sombra chose the location and mentally share its image with us." Hope looked expectantly at Sombra.

"I don't think I know how to do that, I know magic not telepathy."

"However you need to give the image for us to focus on is fine." Buttercream said calmingly.

"Sombra thought hard about Ponyville, searching his mind for the most prominent image that came to mind. Sombra had only ever been to Ponyville once. A thousand years prior he had visited Ponyville on a class trip he went on. Ponyville was a new attraction. It had beautiful scenery and a wide variety of creatures... it still does. The most vivid image that Sombra could remember was of the Apple 'forest'. It wasn't thick enough to be a forest but the trees weren't spread out enough to be an orchard yet. Sombra knew there would one day be a farm in that area, I mean how could there not, especially with as popular as apples were. For the time being, Ponyville was a small nomadic settlement. It wasn't meant to be permanent, but as it attracted more and more people, it seemed to make sense to stay. Sombra loved that wooded area. He could picture the small clearing in the apple woods as if he had just been there the day before. Sombra lit his horn, he wasn't sure how he was going to make the others see what he was seeing, but he was going to figure it out. Sombra's first idea was to open a mental pathway, temporarily linking their minds with his. In theory it was a good idea, but Sombra quickly stopped the spell when he remembered what else was in his head. Sombra then tried to project the image into the air. It worked. The image was there, floating above their heads, and it would remain there as long as Sombra kept his horn lit.

"There? that's in Ponyville?" Hope asked.

"Yes, its a little out from the main part of the town, so it might take a good walk to get into town from there, but its my most vivid memory of Ponyville."

"Alright it should work." Buttercream said, "are you ready Hope?"

"Yes, let's do this." She replied. Hope and buttercream laid a hoof each on Sombra before leaning over and touching horns to cast the spell. The three were encased in a bright rose-gold light. Buttercream and Hope continued to focus on the image and Sombra focused on keeping the image visible to them. Just like with the last major teleport Hope made, energy began to crackle harshly around the trio. The light was becoming intensely bright and an audible humming could be hear in addition to the crackling. Suddenly with a loud crack and a flash of light the group vanished from the dirt road they had been standing on. Seconds later they reappeared with a similarly violent crack and flash of light in the clearing Sombra had shown them. They each let go of eachother and began to walk towards the path leading out of the clearing.

"oof" Sombra exclaimed. His tail was embedded in the wooden gazebo he had teleported next to. Hope gasped when she noticed that it was there. It shouldn't have been hard to miss, considering its size, but they hadn't expected it to be there at all. Sombra had no physical issue, except for the fact that his tail fur was entangled in the grain of the wood with no easy way of getting it out. Hope thought for a second before placing her hoof on Sombra. Hope teleported them about a foot to the left. The quick little teleport successfully removed Sombra's tail from the wood.

"Do you know which way we should be going?" Buttercream asked.

"I don't. Look around, if there's a farm house head towards it and we can go from there." Sombra replied.

The all turned about. None of them spotted a farm house, but Hope did notice an opening in the treeline that was most likely a pathway. Following the pathway, they soon made their way over a small hill and arrived at the Apple Family barn. Applebloom was out front playing with her friends. Sombra and the others approached Applebloom and her friends.

"Young filly, what's your name?" Sombra asked. Applebloom turned, prepared to answer. She jumped and yelped when she saw Sombra.

"A-Applebloom..." The rest of her words faded off.

"Which was to Ponyville, Applebloom?"

Applebloom sighed in relief, "That way!" She said, pointing down the dirt road, "Keep left at the fork!"

Sombra and the others set off down the road. They walked for a while, not sure how long the road was, only knowing they were close. Soon the fork in the road came just as Applebloom had said. Not too long after the fork in the road, the treeline on either side began to die down. The trio had finally arrived in Ponyville. Then they were at Twilight's castle soon after.

Twilight was happy to see Sombra and Hope again. She invited the group i for a bit.

"Soooo... fill me in" Twilight said.

Hope introduced Twilight and Buttercream, then she went into great detail telling Twilight everything that had happened since they parted ways in the Crystal Empire. Twilight was absolutely fascinated by the spells that Sombra and Hope had used to enchant the holding bag and the large pieces used to search for new shards.

"These bags must be getting quite heavy though, am I right?" Twilight asked.

"Yes, but we have been carrying them in rotation." Sombra responded.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Twilight asked.

"Yes you may, Princess." Buttercream replied.

"For other enchantments to add to the bags, I would use a week gravity nullifying spell to make the inner bag at least mostly weightless. That way you can carry much, much more, much more easily. Also a combination of other spells would greatly increase the inside dimensions of the inner bag, without increasing the outer dimensions of either bag. Its simple, but the idea to cross such spells, isn't exactly obvious. Regardless, a group of unicorns from thousands of years ago discovered this technique for making things much bigger on the inside then they appear on the outside."

"That's genius!" Hope gasped out, eager to learn these spells. Hope imagined all the little ways the spells could come in handy for the rest of their journey and for the rest of her life! Twilight and Hope began enchanting one of the bags as Sombra and Buttercream used the other to search the castle for any dust that could be a piece of Princess Amore. After a while the stallions searched for a bit, they returned to where Hope and Twilight were to trade bags. Sombra immediately noticed a weight difference as he took the bag from Hope. He opened the bag and gazed down into it. He could not see the bottom. All Sombra could see in this bag was a ball of stone pieces floating in what he assumed to be the center of the bag. The stone pieces were floating because they were attracted to where the search shard physically is on the outside of the bag where the laws of physics still matter.

Sombra and Buttercream searched about a bit longer, making sure to check hallways and rooms they had not yet gotten to previously. Once again, after they had searched for a while, they returned to where the mares were. Sombra and Buttercream hadn't found more than maybe a spec or so, but this was to be expected considering just how new the castle is. They were all talking as Twilight gave them a basic tour of the unchecked portion of the castle. Twilight led the trio into the throne room to conclude the tour.

"I brought you three here because I have something that I hope helps. I found this crystal a while back when I was still in my rock collecting phase." Twilight picked up a carved stone. The black and red icosahedran shimmered lightly as Twilight moved it about. Hope opened her satchel at got close to the shape. There was no initial pull until Hope got much closer to the crystal shape. It was pulled into the bag. One more piece was added to the infinitely hard puzzle.

* * *

 **Okay guys! Chapter 6 is finished! I hope you liked it. Your gonna like the next chapter... possibly. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the little nod to Doctor Who!**


	7. Metaphysics

**The time between chapters is going to be fairly long for a while. I started College last month (last week of august). Calculus, English 2, and History are taking all of my time. Whatever little time is left over from that, is filled by my job. to make matters worse, my workplace is slowly killing me. Turns out there was a rat infestation 4 years ago and no one is really sure if any of the ventilation was cleaned out afterwards. There is also Black Mold growing in various places on the ceiling. I have already confirmed several symptoms of black mold exposure: Chronic persistent coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes, chronic fatigue, and persistent headaches. And symptoms of rodent-borne disease include: chest pain, nausea/vomitting, fever, chills, and rashes. The only one I am experiencing is chest pain.**

 **Last night at work I got a sudden sharp pain in my chest that I only felt if I breathed in a certain amount. basically it acted like a limit to how much I could fill my lungs. The only way I could make it better was to take a deep breath and force air into my lungs, which I eventually did and suffered the consequence of that which was a sharp stabbing pain in my chest for a few minutes. The whole rest of the night was just my chest feeling sore and heavy. To make matters worse I would not stop coughing. Once the headache sat in I was done. I bought a bottle of water and took my break.**

 **So yeah. I am having a fun life right now :/. Lets review: Sleep deprivation (both mental and physical), Black Mold exposure, and possibly breathing in 4 year old rat waste.**

 **Onto the chapter, get ready for some learnin, cuz we gon learn about some magic!**

 **Chara, said how its spelled, is greek for joy**

 **Lypi, said Lee-pee, is greek for sad**

 **And if you find this chapter boring halfway through, press on through because this is all very important later on.**

* * *

Sombra and the others stayed in Twilight's castle that night to rest from the long journey. While Hope and Sombra dozed off early, Buttercream stayed up a bit later. Buttercream, after laying down unable to sleep for a while, went to explore the castle; this time to pay attention to the details instead of trying to find dust. Buttercream wandered into the throne room hoping to get a better look at the beautiful chandelier hanging proudly in the center of the ceiling. When Buttercream walked into the throne room, he noticed Twilight sitting slouched in her throne half asleep. She opened her eyes when she heard Buttercream.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up." Buttercream said, stepping back a bit.

"Don't be sorry. I wasn't asleep yet." Twilight said before yawning.

"Don't you have a room to sleep in, what are you doing in here?" Buttercream asked.

"I come in here to think, and one peculiar subject continues to dumbfound me: magic."

"Aren't you the Princess of Magic?"

"Actually, of Friendship. Whilst friendship _is_ magic, that doesn't mean I know everything about magic, because I still don't know anything about friendship."

"What about magic is confusing to you?" Buttercream asked. He hoped to talk to someone else well versed in magical studies, and was particularly excited to talk to a former student of Princess Celestia's.

"Metaphysics." Twilight said. Buttercream's excited expression faded a bit. That was the only thing that had been a trouble to him in his studies. He passed that part with good grades, but he was not going to have a particularly easy time recalling that subject.

"That's a tough one, considering no-one really ever understood it in the first place." Buttercream started.

"Well tell me all you know, and we can go from there."

"It's a branch of philosophy particularly interested in the study of things that exist, but can not be experienced by the five senses and therefore not physical."

"What are examples of things that are metaphysical?" Twilight was very curious.

"The soul, The spirit, and magic."

"Aren't the soul and the spirit the same thing?" Twilight asked, confused

"in rational creatures yes, but in no other creature in the universe. The soul is the force of life in _all_ living things throughout Equestria. It allows plants and animals alike to grow, reproduce, and protect themselves, but not to think rationally or even feel some of the emotions we feel. The Soul of rational minded creatures gives the ability to love, this single characteristic then also make our souls spirits. The difference here between a soul and a spirit is infinite. That is the Spirit lasts for infinity, while the soul ceases to exist once its owner dies. Our souls can go on once our bodies pass, because our soul is a spirit, it is not finite. many out there believe in beings who were never finite, who are only spirits. Some cultures believe in one Spirit, some believe in many spirits.

"Magic is very similar in its sophistication. There are different levels of magic. The most complex form of magic can only be accomplished by creatures who possess a soul and therefore the ability to love. That is not to be confused with affection. A cat has affection towards you, your significant other loves you. The next level of magic is associated with magical animals such as timber-wolves and phoenixes. The lowest level of magic is associated with magical plants. and even then, this magic is not used consciously. The plant has no idea it exists much less that it is using magic, it is simply a defense mechanism."

"Hmm. I never did consider any of this before. This seems so obvious, how can these ideas be so little known?"

"Some choose to reject them because they do not want to believe in a Spirit without a physical body. They choose to believe that there is no greater intelligence for us to learn from. Some reject these ideas so much that they rewrite all teachings that might hint at a greater intelligence... I think we strayed from our topic."

"A bit" Twilight responded.

"Magic. Magic is divided into two colours and three castes to make six types of magic. There is White Magic and Black Magic, not to be confused with Dark Magic; and there is Emotional Magic, Elemental Magic, and Spiritual Magic. Spiritual Magic is associated with the spirit, Emotional with the soul of an animal, and Elemental Magic with the soul of plants."

"Ohhh that makes sense." Twilight was entranced by his lesson on magic, "I suppose you can mix the colours and castes of magic to create different types of magic? like a two by three grid?"

"Exactly! Okay, so the White magic types are Light Magic, Chara Magic, and Source Magic. The black magic types are Dark Magic, Lypi Magic, and Destruction magic. Chara is Ancient Griffik for 'joy' and Lypi is Ancient Griffik for 'sad'."

"But there are more kinds of magic than that." Twilight argued to his last statement, realizing she hadn't heard some other familiar types of magic among the ones listed.

"All other kinds of magic are combinations of these six types of magic."

Twilight thought for a bit. This was new information to her. How could she have never known this? She was taking in a lot of information, but still wanted to know more.

"What are the different combinations?"

"When I was still learning magic theory, only three of the eight possible combinations of magic even had names. After becoming disconnected from the world, I lost track of what the other five were as they were named, so I apologize for not being able to completely answer your question."

"That's fine, just tell me what you know."

"The only three named at the time were combinations of white magic. The combination of Emotional and Spiritual Magic was called Mind Magic or Mental Magic, as most of the spells produced in this way had some effect or another over someones mental state or subconscious. All dream related magic is considered Mental Magic.

"Next, the combination of Elemental and Spiritual magic is called Primal Magic. It is not call this because it reduces you to a primal state, but that it activates a part of your subconscious that would never otherwise be used. This magic usually is cast without its owner knowing and is the result of a moment of extreme peril. This magic activates like an instinct giving its caster incredible strength.

"Finally, the third known is a combination of all three types of white magic. This combination of Emotional, Elemental, and Spiritual magics creates the most powerful kind of magic in existence..." Buttercream paused, hoping Twilight would be able to fill in the blank.

"Friendship?" Twilight's eyes lit up

"Close, but not quite." Buttercream replied, Twilight was slightly confused. "Need another hint? This magic can only be joint cast except in a few rare cases. Two ponies must work in unison to cast this kind of magic."

"..." Twilight thought for quite a while. This sounded very familiar to her. So familiar, in fact, that she felt like she'd seen this magic in person before. Finally she said, "Love?"

"Yes! Spot on! Love magic is the most powerful magic. This magic has to be cast by a pair who are truly in love with each other. There are two exceptions to this. Say your signifcant other was in mortal peril, you might very well cast Love magic without trying in this case. Now suppose _you_ are in mortal peril, upon seeing your significant other the idea of how sad it might make them if you were gone, you might also cast Love magic."

"So what are the true conditions to cast Love magic?"

"A unity of two spirits. If a pair's spirits are bound by true love then the same magic that binds their spirits can be utilized."

"Do you mind me asking how you know so much about this particular kind of magic?" Twilight asked. Buttercream began to recount his story from the moment he met Princess Amore to the moment he lost her, then up to when he met Sombra and Hope... the second time. Twilight was listening attentively like a child being read her favourite book. When Buttercream was finished, Twilight said, "This is amazing! I mean, its rather unfortunate for you, and I am dreadfully sorry for your loss; but this is information that History texts are missing! There is so little known about Princess Amore that she doesn't get very large sections in any text books, if at all!"

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, and would like to help, but this is going to have to wait a while, I would like to have my wife back first" Buttercream smiled lightly, but there was definitely a deep sadness in his eyes. Twilight was mentally scolding herself.

"I'm sorry, I hope I didn't come across as too shallow. I'm a bit of a History nerd." Twilight said lightly. "Do you think we could also work on updating modern information on magic?"

"Oh don't be sorry, I know you didn't mean anything by it. We should probably talk to Celestia about teaching Magical Theory. I love the idea of bringing back the old teachings, but perhaps there was some good reason for doing away with it?" Buttercream suggested.

"I can't imagine there being a good reason for getting rid of an ideology that makes perfect sense."

"We might never know if we don't talk to Celestia I suppose." Buttercream was wishing he had spent a bit more time not secluding himself in a dark forest for nearly a thousand years.

Twilight let out a long yawn. Buttercream realised just how late it was and said, "We should go to bed. Goodnight Twilight."

"Goodnight Buttercream" Twilight replied. She was exhausted and had a lot of new information to process.

* * *

The next morning, Buttercream went to talk to Hope. Buttercream was thinking back to his conversation with Twilight the night before. Buttercream hoped Hope might remember why Magical Theory was no longer being taught.

"Hey, Hope! Last night Twilight and I were talking about magic, do you remember anything about why the way magic is taught was changed?"

"What do you mean?" Hope asked in confusion.

"Apparently Magical Theory is no longer taught, much less the metaphysics that support it."

"Really? I remember those subjects from when I was younger. No, I have no idea why that wouldn't be taught any longer."

"Alright, we are going to bring it up with Celestia, I just wanted to see if you knew anything about it first.

"Well now I'm really curious. I know Sombra won't know what happened to those subjects, but I'll see if he remembers any of it."

* * *

"Yeah I remember Metaphysics and Magical Theory. I kinda always found it a bunch of garbage." Sombra saw the look of disappointment in Hopes eyes at that last comment and decided to clarify, "Er.. i used to think so anyway. It makes a lot more sense now."

"I always felt a deep personal connection with it. It explained a lot of things I was struggling with. I might have always seemed cheerful and outgoing, but I always had some underlying sadness. Sometimes I didn't feel it for months, but then it would all suddenly flood back in. Metaphysics, as crazy as it sounds, helped me to understand the impact of my emotions and how to properly deal with them..." Hope went on talking for a while, she had started a tangent and was wildly chasing down a rabbit hole of thought vaguely related to the original topic.

Sombra didn't say much in response, except the occasional agreement or gasp. At some point he stopped completely listening and just stared at her eyes. _Her beautiful sapphire eyes..._ Sombra tried to inconspicuously snap out of his thoughts and continue listening to her. Instead of refocusing full attention on her, sombra's mind began to wander. He questioned his conscience; pressing on why he had been entranced by her eyes like that. _She's just my friend... who literally stayed alive for a thousand years to piece the real me back together. No, she's just a friend... right?_ Sombra's mind flipped back and forth like this for a while. Despite his distractions, he managed to still listen at least somewhat to Hope. He wasn't quite sure if he had heard everything, so he was quite happy when Twilight and Buttercream came back from their continued conversation on magic.

"Are you two ready to go?" Buttercream asked.

"Now? We just arrived in ponyville, and we've really only swept one building for dust or shards. Besides, can't we relax for a day?" Sombra asked.

"I suppose you're right. What do you have in mind for a day off?" Buttercream asked, slightly relieved that he wasn't the only one wanting to just relax after that long journey. As he thought about it, he realised how silly it was to think otherwise given he was the only immortal one in the room... sort of.

"Well I thought Hope and I could go look for a place to eat lunch."

"Were you planning on doing that alone, or could Twlight and I join?" Buttercream asked

Sombra was hoping to go alone with her, but didn't want Hope to be suspicious of him acting weird, "I mean that was the plan, but you guys can joi-"

"Actually, I'd like to get to catch up with Sombra a bit. Its been a couple months but I still haven't gotten to catch up with him in some one-on-one conversation." Hope interjected

"That's fine, you two have fun. Buttercream and I will walk about and find something to do also then" Twilight replied

Buttercream glanced at Sombra momentarily. He would have liked to get to know Sombra and Hope a bit better, but he also liked the opportunity to continue talking to Twilight about magic. Buttercream figured he'd also discuss different ways of finding all of the pieces to Amore's shattered form.

Sombra tried to wordlessly pass a thank you to Twilight as he glanced towards her. Twilight didn't seem to noticed, but Buttercream did and he lightly nodded.

* * *

 **Is Sombra starting to realise he likes Hope? Next chapter will cover His and Hope's "date" and Buttercream and Twilight's day together. No I am not pairing them, that would kinda defeat the purpose of the plot. Buttercream and Twilight just have a lot in common as friends.**

 **I know its a bit short of a chapter. At 2,381 words, its not long at all. It is only a filler of sorts after all.**

 **We will be retouching on the fundamentals of magic in a later chapter when the group visits Princess Celestia. Be prepared!**


End file.
